


Blue Veins

by Waifu76



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Age Difference, Don't Judge Me, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Imprisonment, Inspired by the amazing fic Misconduct, Mild Language, Mutual Pining, My First Fanfic, Near Death Experiences, Other, Past Torture, Post-Fall of Overwatch, Prision, Slow Burn, Test subject, Unresolved Sexual Tension, but he is also a big troll, genji ships mchanzo, jesus take the wheel, possibly mary sue reader, reader is female, some reaper/reader in there oops, the slowest of burns, very slow burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-17
Updated: 2018-01-10
Packaged: 2018-10-19 23:18:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 35,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10650147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Waifu76/pseuds/Waifu76
Summary: Overwatch agents saved you from a difficult situation back in your home country. Hoping to get justice done you decide to join them, only to find yourself in yet another conundrum and now you gotta deal with a really awkward crush. // Steamy bits started at chapter 6 if you're impatient 8'D





	1. Cativeiro

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Misconduct](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8572498) by [Antiloquist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Antiloquist/pseuds/Antiloquist), [FiveTail](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FiveTail/pseuds/FiveTail). 



> Okay forgive my awkward and broken english: I tried my best.  
> I'm just a simple girl of simple tastes. I see a good Soldier76xReader fanfiction and I feel inspired to write my own.

It was a gray sky that Jack met upon arriving at south Brazil for the first time.

When leaving the ship, he looked back to make sure nothing was left behind: a habit he never seemed to get rid of no matter how much time passed away. He could remember being strike commander years ago, always looking behind his back to make sure no allies, documents or supplies were left behind. Nothing could be forgotten on his watch.

It was different now. He was not head of Overwatch, as Winston liked to remind him. In fact, he was barely part of that new, reformed Overwatch.

 

Jack saw himself unable to keep going after those who helped bring the old Overwatch down back in the day, considering he was a wanted vigilante now, playing against the rules.

For the first years it was okay, he managed to steal his pulse rifle and take down many ‘bad guy’s factions’ as he liked to call them. But it kept getting harder and harder to keep bringing justice to them, more and more kept coming up and he was just not able to deal with it alone. Soon he met Ana again, on that same damn day he found out Gabriel was alive. Both worked together for a while, but it was still not enough. Ana had managed to talk him into going to the new Overwatch, the same one that her daughter was now part of.

 

‘Going to’ was not the same as joining, mind you. But fate had it’s way, and soon Jack met with Winston and he offered something he could not deny: help and supplies. That, and the fact that Ana and Fareeha had such a beautiful reunion he could not tear them apart again by not joining.

 

And now he found himself here, on the southern part of Brazil, searching for a sister faction to Los Muertos who had stirred up trouble to the old Overwatch. He looked to his front again, seeing his mission partner Lúcio already walking up ahead. He was wearing a hoodie, hiding most of his face and hair, and baggy pants. Obviously, Jack thought, since Lúcio was pretty well known especially back on his home country. They should keep undercover for this mission, but the boy was the only one to speak portuguese in their ranks, so he had to come along.

Not that he minded at all. Lúcio seemed ecstatic to be back in Brazil, even if as he mentioned, he had never been to the southern part of it before.

 

Tracer was right beside the young man, seeming just as delighted to be in the country for the first time. Jack wondered for a moment if they even remember that they are on an important mission, but soon the thought vanishes. He may not be as familiar with Lúcio, but he knows Tracer enough to be able to tell that she knows what she’s doing. Agent Oxton was incredibly reliable back at the old Overwatch, and she had kept it just like Jack remembered her.

 

The three of them kept walking to a nearby town, hoping to find some clues about the faction they were looking for. It was Jack’s mission, to be honest. Winston just insisted that he brought along Tracer and Lúcio for safety’s sake.  

He watched along with tracer as Lúcio talked a bit to a few of the civilians around. He was good at it, the soldier had to admit. Lúcio managed to keep casual and could easily hold a conversation for a while, even if Jack had no idea what he was saying with those portuguese words.

 

A little while after, he was back, hands on his hoodie’s pockets and with a serious expression on his face that somehow didn’t seem to fit the young man. “They’ve been around here. Stealing some valuables, too.” He shrugged and rolled his eyes.

 

“Expensive stuff?” Lena chipped in, bringing a hand to her chin.

 

“More like dangerous stuff. Chemicals, guns, heavy stuff.” Lúcio turned his attention to jack. “Obviously they are up to no good.”

 

Jack simply nodded to that. “Any other info about them? Location?”

 

“Yea. Apparently they call themselves ‘Cativeiros’, and have been all around Brazil so far. I can’t say for sure where their base is, but they have an installation on a near pub, I think.” Lúcio looked over his shoulders to make sure he wasn’t being heard by no one else. “At least they have frequently been seen there.”

 

“Maybe they own the place. We gotta be extra careful.” Jack said, his voice low in thought.

 

“So, ‘Cativeiros’, huh? What does that mean?” The eyebrows on Lena’s face where raised, a small contemplative pout on her lips.

 

“Uh, I guess you could compare it to a ‘prison’ of sorts. It’s a place you’re kept to, with no way out.” He scratched his head a little “If you ask me, it’s just a way to say that once they join, they can’t get out.”

 

“Should we wait until the pub is open to go investigate?” said the young woman.

 

“No. Let’s go undercover now and see if there is any movement.” The soldier looked at Lúcio. “Lead the way, agent.”

 

“You got it, commander.”

 

\------------------------------------------------------------

 

The place was just as grey as the sky. Everything seemed old, the building, the road… Jack was somewhat surprised by the looks of the place. If the Cativeiros really had been stealing valuable supplies, why stay on such a broken down place? It was probably not a secret, considering that Lúcio found out about their location pretty quick. So if they were keen on keeping their location known around, why make it so broken down?

Doing their best to remain hidden, the three of them creeped their way to the backside of the pub.

Jack looked around, seeming annoyed at the lack of motion or clues (although to Lena and Lúcio, he always looked grumpy anyways.)

Just as he was about to turn around and wait until the night, he felt the floor rumble. The three agents looked at each other in confusion and quickly managed to hide themselves behind the wall’s corner.

A small entrance opened up at the floor and two people left it, seemingly climbing up a set of stairs. Morrison’s eyebrows went up in surprise, the ingenious mechanism for the entrance seemed very modern.

_“Ah, that explains where their money has been going to.”_ He thought, blue eyes hidden by his visor kept following the two figures as they walked. _“They are not even that worried about being found, such cockyness…”_

 

“Cara, como eles andam difíceis utimamente…” One of the people said, a man wearing dark baggy clothes. The large gun he was holding on his right hand did not pass unnoticed by Jack.

 

“Eles não são problema nosso, Cativeiro. Deixa isso pros cientistas.” The other one answered, a woman with clothes just as dark and a knife on a holster by her waist.

 

Jack felt his grip on his gun tighten, but a hand quickly went to his arm. He looked back and saw Lúcio, shaking his head with a serious look. He mouthed ‘There are more’ and looked back at the entrance at the floor. Whatever those Cativeiros had said in portuguese, Lúcio must have understood. Jack looked back at Lena who seemed to agree with Lúcio, and his grip on the gun relaxed.

 

As soon as the two people were out of vision the floor entrance started to close. Jack sprinted to it’s way, waving his hand as if motioning for his teammates to follow his lead.

 

The three of them entered before the passage was closed, and found themselves inside a dark but modern facility of sorts.

 

The place where you have been in the last years.

  


\-------------------------------

 

“05, unresponsive.”

 

The voice was cold and calculated, with an edge of anger. Your eyes opened, adjusting to the light walls and floor. It was cold as always, and your stomach rumbled with hunger.

 

“23, doing fine. Give him an extra, he did a fine job on the last trial.”

 

Your eyes darted to the metal door in front of your room, the bars and locks destroying any hopes of you leaving. A subtle light came through the small window on it, making your vision blurry upon meeting it. You felt empty, just like this room. The small bed creaked as you moved to sit up, putting your feet on the stone floor for the first time in the day.

 

“19…” The voice outside sounded, and you stared at the door’s window again. A man’s face came up, staring right back with his thin glasses and messy stubble beard. He lifted a pen and tapped it against the glass, as if calling for your attention. “How are you doing today, 19? Will you behave today or be an annoyance again?”

 

You simply keep staring, mind blank. You’ve learned on the last years that nothing you try will ever be able to make you get out of this place, yet from time to time you still try to escape. The man outside seems more than irritated already by it, and with reason.

 

“...19 Remains okay. But keep an eye on her. Let’s bring her to the trial room and see if she’s behaving today.” The cold voice said while fading away and you could hear the footsteps. Great, trial room. You hated it, you hated being watched like a lab rat, but it was all you knew for eight years now. Eight years of being trained, tested on and kept like a prisoner. Eight years of trying to escape, of seeing prisoners like you become ‘unresponsive’, of not being yourself.

 

You were not yourself anymore. You were 19. You were nothing but a number to them.

 

You room (or would it be prison?) door opens and a heavily armored guard enters. He walks to your way with steps just as heavy and points his gun at you, before making an upward movement. You understand his motion to stand up and you do so, obediently. He then motions to the door and you walk towards it, as he presses the gun against your back for you to keep moving to the trial room.

 

\-------------------------------------------

 

“19, test 01 on the enemy 03” The same cold voice sounded from the speakers on top of the light room. You were surrounded by dummies, numbered plaques on their chests. You knew the procedure from start to finish: they wanted you to show your skills by attacking the one dummy with number 03 on their chest.

It was tiring. You were tired. You were so exhausted from it. Your mind started to wander: was it really worth it having to go through all this pain? To keep pushing yourself for… for what? Getting an extra meal? Having the hope of leaving this place someday just to become a little obedient pet, like the best prisoners had? You could hear sounds outside, but couldn’t focus on what they were. Your mind was worked up over trying to decide whenever you should give up or not.

 

“19.” The cold voice sounded angry. “We’ve given you too many chances. Lobotomy is always an option.”

 

A cold sweat ran through your back. No no no no. They knew it was such a huge fear of yours and they kept using it against you. You heard another train of sounds outside, but focused on the choice given at the moment. You could give up your personality with a lobotomy but you were terrified of it. If you disobeyed that would happen. An alarm sounded. But being deprived of your personality meant not feeling any pain? All doors slammed open.

 

“We have a security breach, I repeat, we have a security breach!” The voices outside seemed terrified and you could finally focus on the sounds: gunshots and explosions. Your face turned to the door and you realized it was open just like all the others. You could run, but how far would you get? You were so tired. You just wanted to give up. Your eyes darted to the window on the upper part of the room, from where the man from before observed you. He seemed scared, trying to contact someone through a phone.

 

Your bare feet felt cold, and the gunshots seemed to get closer and closer each second. You looked at the open door again, to consider trying to escape once more, but what you saw was not what you expected:

 

A man in a leather jacket wearing some sort of visor stood there, giving slow steps inside the room, with a pulse rifle in hand.

 

\---------------------------------------

 

The invasion had been successful and Jack and his two teammates had been taking the Cativeiros out one by one. It wasn’t long before they came to find the little prison-like rooms where people had been held. They had obviously been tested on, something that brought back memories that he barely remembered he had from his days back in the army. But this was different. These people surely didn’t offer to be there, they were shackled and locked on terrible conditions. They tried to rescue them, but they incredibly turned against the team and started attacking with their bare hands, who sometimes were scarily stronger than a normal human should be. _“Must be some kind of brain wash”_ he thought. And upon looking around the place they were sure: there were experiments going on, and Lena made sure to take all important documents she could find as evidence to Winston.

 

They got separated on the last corridors, Lena and Lúcio went to one direction while Jack went to the other. It was his choice, really. He could heal himself up with one of his biotic fields if needed, but Lena should probably keep with Lúcio just in case.

 

It wasn’t long until he arrived in front of a door that led to a room filled with dummies. But that wasn’t the most surprising part of it.

On the middle of the room, there was a tiny girl.

 

You were thin, so thin that Jack couldn’t say for sure if you even ate something in the last days. Your feet were bare, and you were using a simple short white jumpsuit like all the other prisoners. Your hair was messy and short, with two longer locks in the front, along with dull messy bangs.

Jack approached carefully, his gun raised in hand, pointed to your direction. He was expecting you to attack like the last prisoners. He was sure you would do it.

 

But you remained still, just blankly staring at him.

He stopped midway, staring back.

 

“19, attack the intruder.” A voice sounded from speakers in the room and the soldier looked around to see a window in it where a man was observing them. Jack turned his attention back to the you, gun still raised.

 

Nothing.

 

“19, what are you waiting for?!” He yelled, and you tore your eyes away from Jack for the first time since he came into the room and looked at the window where the man stood behind. “Tch, you useless little shit!” The man pressed something with strength, and suddenly you brought your hands to your neck.

 

Jack looked back at you, realizing you were clutching some sort of mechanical collar. Tears started to appear on the corner of your eyes, and you grunted in pain, but shook your head. “Hey!” He said, looking at the man, hoping that he would stop whatever he was doing to you through that collar but the man just pressed whatever button he had pressed before one more time, making the you fall to your knees and cry out in pain.

 

The soldier aimed to the window and sent a pulse shot at it, making it break into tiny pieces and also shooting the man behind it in the process. He fell down to  the floor, dead and bleeding and whatever he was pressing before must have been cut off, because you stopped yelling in the exact same time. The death did not even faze the soldier in the slightest.

 

Turning his attention to the you he kneeled down, looking at you as you trembled in pain. “Tracer, Lúcio, come over here. There is a survivor.” He said on his communication device.

 

“We’ll be right there.” Said Lúcio, his voice slightly static through the comm. Jack raised his hand to your neck, trying to see if she still had a strong pulse going. Surely you were still alive, but you needed medical attention. They had to take you back to the Watchpoint: Gibraltar, where Mercy could treat you.

 

“Hang in there, kiddo.” Jack told you, as he could hear his teammates getting near. Your eyes closed, exhausted from whatever they had made you go through, and you fell asleep.

 


	2. Soldier

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You are brought into the Overwatch and treated by their best doctor.  
> But not everything has a cure, and you gotta learn to use that in your advantage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, please ignore my shitty english 8'D  
> I try my best, but I have no beta readers or anything.

“It has been hours now. How is her progress?” His voice was tired, raspy after the mission as he read the documents on the medical ward’s desk.

 

“Stable. She’s doing fine.” Angela approached Jack as he kept reading, not taking his eyes off of the papers. “Other than the hunger, shock and exhaustion, that is.”

 

Winston approached them by the other side, trying to take a peek at the documents Jack was reading. “According to those documents Lena retrieved, I believe that’s not all, is it?”

 

Angela signed and ran a hand through her blonde locks. “No. We’ve found something on her organism… something similar to the chemicals used on the soldier enhancement project.”

 

To this Jack stopped in his tracks, turning back to look at Dr. Ziegler in the same instant. “ _What?_ ”

 

Winston nodded, taking the documents from Jack and reading them over. “Seems like it… Although I must say… She doesn’t seem shaped like a super soldier.” Winston looked up at the monitor in the room, showing a live recording of the patient’s room where she laid on a hospital bed. Jack noticed and did the same by impulse, staring at the image. She was breathing deeply, chest rising and falling peacefully, messy dark hair framing her features.

 

“She’s just a kid…” He said absently, remembering his days back in the program. Jack was at least of age when he offered himself to the program, and even then it was hard. It wasn’t for naught that it was seen as controversial: Jack had seen and felt all the side effects, all the testing, the soldiers who gave up before him and etc. Imagining a frail kid to go through that was more than hard.

 

“From the x-rays, she has the body structure of a early 20’s year old.” Angela pointed out, then turned to Jack, who cocked his head in surprise. “She’s tiny, but a good part of her seeming so young is the fact that she is currently underfed.”

 

“But even then, why would they choose a tiny little looking girl to try the soldier program on?” Jack turned his whole body to the doctor’s direction, his attention completely on the subject. “I understand she is underfed, but even if she was on a healthy condition, she can’t look much older than that.”

 

Winston adjusted his glasses before speaking “Has she said anything yet?”

 

“Barely.” Angela shook her head in disappointment. “She was awake for a few minutes a while ago, but she is very confused. I did my best to try to maintain a conversation, but she seems just scared at the moment.”

 

“Understandable” The scientist said between slow nods. “Maybe we are taking the wrong approach. I imagine it would be easier for her to get comfortable talking to someone from her country. Lúcio is also well known, so he would be more trustworthy.”

 

“He saw her condition and helped in the rescue, I don’t see why not. Besides, Lúcio always helps me around as a nurse when there are too many patients here. It’s not like he isn’t used to it.” Ziegler shrugged with a small smile, seemingly pleased with the idea.

 

That was good enough for Jack. If not even the ‘guardian angel’ Mercy could make the girl talk, he sure couldn’t. Lúcio was really their best shot at the moment. Besides, Jack Morrison - the strike commander of overwatch who was great with words and supporting his colleagues - had been long gone, and Jack felt like that part of him died on that day years ago. “I’ll go get him then. We can discuss details once he is here.”

 

\------------------------------------------------

 

First, there was the smell of disinfectant. Then, the subtle sound of machines and someone tapping their feet to an imaginary beat. Only then you opened your eyes.

 

You were warm, and on the same bed you had found yourself a while ago when a beautiful blonde woman tried to talk to you. You had been so surprised back then that you barely could say anything, but now you were a little calmer and could actually think straight. It was still surprising to wake up on a warm, comfy bed after eight years of imprisonment but damn if it wasn’t a relief.

 

Your gaze went to a young man sitting on a chair near you, preoccupied with his cellphone in hands. He must have felt your gaze, because as soon as you stared he looked up from the device, Finally seeing you awake.

 

“Hey, buddy.” He said softly, standing up from the chair and walking next to your hospital bed. “Glad you are awake. How are you feeling?”

 

Taking in his image you finally recognized him as Lúcio, the not only Brazilian DJ but also activist. It was pretty much impossible not to know who he was if you lived in Brazil: you had been locked away from the world for eight years, but right before getting imprisoned he was already making his mark on the country, fighting the Volskaya industries and it’s hold on the cities there. You felt yourself let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding. “I… feel hungry.” You said, knitting your eyebrows together in slight frustration.

 

Lúcio just chuckled at that, then sat on the corner of your bed. “Yea, I imagine. I’m Lúcio, by the way. I’m-”

 

“I know who you are.” You cut him off, eyes wide in admiration. “You were one of the only people who gave us hope back in Brazil.”

He smiled warmly, surely happy with your words. “That’s good. But I’m at disadvantage, I don’t know who you are. What’s your name?”

 

Your name. It has been years since someone called you by name. The life of the girl with that name has been long lost, and you didn’t feel worthy of using it anymore. The person you were back then wouldn’t be proud of the prisoner you became. “They called me 19.” You said in a low, shy tone.

 

“H-hey, that’s not a great name, is it? But it’s fine if you don’t remember, I’ll just keep calling you buddy if that’s alright.” He gave you a big toothy grin and it was difficult to get used to it at first. It’s not like you haven’t seen kindness for eight years: other prisoners had been as kind as he did to you. You’ve realized over the course of those years that during times of need, human beings did their best to stick together and share whatever they could with each other. What was difficult to get used to, however, was how freely Lúcio had been talking to you. “You are safe now, you are at the Overwatch base.” You nodded slowly, remembering how angry the guards seemed to be when they mentioned a newly established Overwatch. “But we have a few questions if that’s okay… you can feel free to answer them as soon as you feel rea-”

 

“Ask away.” You say deadpan. “If there is any chance I can help you get those bastards, I want to take it.”

 

Lúcio seemed surprised by your reaction. He moved a little on his sitting spot as if trying to get more comfortable. “Are you sure?” You nodded firmly.

 

\--------------------------------------

 

The clatter of a tea cup hitting the table top was dull as Ana elegantly took sips from it. Jack could feel the sweet smell of it on the room as they both watched the monitor showing you and Lúcio on. She had offered him a cup, but he politely refused.

 

“She seems much better already.” The old lady said, taking in your image with care. Jack did the same, his visor on top of the table Ana was using. “She’s a fighter.”

 

“She’s gotta be, to be able to endure all that.” The soldier signed, then sat right beside Ana. “The Soldier Enhancement Project wasn’t easy stuff. And all that training and brainwashing going on there…”

 

Ana took another sip from her warm drink. “You are right, but they mustn’t have done the exact same to her. Truth be told, she doesn’t look like a super soldier like you or-”

 

“Yeah.” He cut her off before she said their ex teammate’s name, Gabriel, who once had been like family to both of them… and even slightly more. But that seemed like a lifetime ago now.

 

Ana did not miss that, and he could feel her stare at him for a few seconds, but she didn’t say a thing and turned back to the monitor soon enough.

 

 _“If there is any chance I can help you get those bastards, I want to take it.”_ Your soft voice said through the monitor’s speakers, and Jack adjusted his sitting position, a little more interested in your talk now. He wanted to barge in there and ask questions himself, he wanted to be able to talk to you face to face and try to make sense of what the hell happened on that place… But he knew it was not a good idea in the slightest.

 

 _“Are you sure?”_ He heard Lúcio asking, and saw you nodding to his question. _“Alright...Can you tell me what was happening back there at the Cativeiros base? Any info helps.”_

 

Dr. Ziegler came into the room in the same second, holding some health reports on her hands “I’ve got news. Her-” She started, but was cut off by Ana, who made a quick ‘Shhh’ noise and pointed at the monitor. Angela seemed slightly annoyed, but became serious as soon as she saw you and Lúcio on the monitor, realizing what this was all about.

 

 _“Cativeiros… are an extremist anti-omnic faction.”_ Jack knew that already. That’s why they’ve been called a sister faction to Los Muertos. Every since the fall of the old Overwatch, they had been working together. _“They...used to say bad things about Overwatch. Things like… how you all didn’t do your job and helped omnics instead.”_ Figures. _“All the prisoners in there like me… were abducted from their homes. People who wouldn’t be missed by the society. S-some families were killed…_ ” Your voice became small, as you looked down. The soldier wondered for a moment if that’s what had happened to your family as well.

 

_“Why were they doing that?”_

 

 _“They said that they were going to be what the Overwatch wasn’t. That we should be thankful. Said we were going to be the…’Undertake’ or something.”_ Jack’s eyebrows knitted in both surprise and anger. He could feel his muscles tensing, taking in all the information you had been so willingly sharing.

 

“They were forcing them to fight for their lost cause…” Angela shook her head, clearly disappointed. “So many lives lost…”

 

 _“And who was behind all that? Who came up with that crazy idea?”_ Lúcio seemed as surprised as Jack, although he couldn’t see his face from the camera’s position.

 

He watched as you shrugged. _“To be honest, I don’t think it was anyone in special. The Cativeiros don’t really have a leader… But I wouldn’t know much, the only people I came in contact with were guards and scientists, but both were voluntaries from nearby cities.”_

 

Jesus, it was like a mass hysteria. If what you were telling was true, they barely even had any sort of tangible real enemy to defeat. How do you change the minds of so many people at once?

 

Suddenly the memories from the fall of Overwatch came rushing like a flood back into his mind. The times when people were convinced that Overwatch was the problem, when they wanted it to burn, when they’ve claimed his head. This was it, the exact same thing. He felt some sort of lump on his throat, a bad feeling about the whole situation that seemed to keep repeating itself over and over. Jack took a quick glance at Ana’s direction and she seemed to be just as nervous, putting her teacup down in a swift motion.

 

 _“Thanks, bud. That’s a great help already. We’ll get them, don’t worry.”_ Lúcio gave one quick nod with his head, showing you how confident he was.

 

Suddenly, you turned your gaze to the camera.

 

Jack stared at the monitor, your dark eyes staring right back. You weren’t just staring blankly like the first time he saw you. You wanted justice. He could almost grasp your resolve even from the digital image, as he had seen it before on himself. You wanted justice, but he knew the line between justice and revenge was a thin one, and you were treading a dangerous zone. He took quick glances around, but Ana and Angela didn’t seem to notice your raw staring at the camera. When he looked back at the image, you were looking at Lúcio once more.

 

 _“But hey, you must be so hungry! I bet you are dying for some home cooked meal. You should probably start with something light, but-”_ Lúcio’s voice kept getting quieter and quieter as Angela lowered the monitor’s volume now that the conversation had lighten up. She turned to both Jack and Ana’s way, a worried look on her face.

 

“That’s a lot to take in.” Ana said, turning to Angela’s way. Angela raised her eyebrows and shook her head in disbelief.

 

“You haven’t seen it all yet.” She approached the table and dropped the health reports on it so that the Commander and the Captain could read them. “What we’ve found on her organism works much like the strength enhancements on the super soldiers, but not quite.” She sprayed some of the papers around, pointing to one in particular. “You see this? The levels injected in her are absurd. It’s around the same quantity you would give to a grown man like the commander.” Her finger tapped a result. “Which is why it’s usually not functional. She needs some sort of prompt for them to react.”

 

“What kind of prompt…?” Ana seemed scared to ask.

 

“Pain.” Dr Ziegler bit her bottom lip in nervousness. “They probably induced extreme pain to her so that the strength enhancement would begin. Most probably shocks or something of the sort. Just hitting her wouldn’t be able to activate it.”

 

Jack suddenly remembered the collar you were using back in that place. Made sense, the man he killed must have been trying to force you to use your strength enhancement skills with that. “Can we help her get rid of it?” He asked.

 

“No.” Angela was direct, a serious expression on her face. “We can’t.”

 

Great. That kid had been turned into a soldier, and there was nothing they could do about it. Jack put on his visor and stood up in a quick movement, obviously angry at the situation, and walked towards the door. How many others had been turned into soldiers like that? Her levels of strength enhancements were even too high for her, they probably had no idea how much to inject and just gave it a go.

He turned his head back before leaving, looking back at Angela and Ana “Call me if you need anything else.” and just like that he was gone of the room.

  


\------------------------------------------------------------

  


It had been a month and two weeks. Your build was no longer starved thin, your mind was no longer as confused. All your senses seemed to be more accurate, you felt alive once more.

 

You knew though, that some of the Overwatch members weren’t keen on your decision to join them. But you had insisted so much that Winston wasn’t able to deny your request. Besides, you had nowhere to go back to. You had promised many times that your strength enhancements could be put into good use, that you would do your best to help them and to put an end to the Undertake project.

 

And that’s why you were here right now: on the training fields along with Soldier 76.

 

Not much about it was disclosed to you, but apparently he had similar enhancements made on his body and Winston decided it would be better for him to train you how to use them properly. But no matter how you looked at it, that man was a freaking brick wall. He towered over you, his muscles were visible, you could tell he was strong. And you? You weren’t a little starved looking kid anymore, but you surely weren’t like him. You had no visible muscles or any strength whatsoever.

 

To get your strength enhancements going, you had been shown pain. But Dr. Ziegler managed to make some sort of vaccine that induced the chemicals to work without making you feel that extreme pain anymore. You surely didn’t get as strong as you did when you felt the pain, but it was enough to carry around heavy weights. You had given it some tests run by Angela, but never put it to use until now.

 

“Let’s see what are your limits without the inducer.” 76 said, standing up in front of you. He was wearing cargo pants and a black t-shirt, not really what you had seen him wearing before. To be honest, you weren’t used to wearing those exercise clothes as well, and he could probably see how uneasy you felt. You couldn’t see his face (what’s up with the 24/7 visor thing?) but he seemed to be sizing you up. “How many laps across the training fields can you give? 20?”

20\. Twenty. Freaking ten plus ten. You had to hold your mouth shut. How big was that field anyway? There is no way you could even get 3 laps done. What was the last time you actually went for a run? “Uh... “ You looked nervously at him, to where you imagined his eyes would be anyways. Did he even had eyes? Plot twist: what if he had like...one big eye in the middle of his face? Like a big cyclop or something. You had to do your best to hold your laughs at the mental image.

 

“Just do the laps, agent. I’ll do the counting.” You could already sense a small edge of annoyance in his voice. Oh boy, wasn’t this gonna be fun. Positioning yourself on the edge of the field, you started running the distance commanded. At first you were running, at least. After a few minutes, your speed slowed up. “Speed up, agent!” You hear him shout. Jesus christ, you were doing your best, but your pace was pretty bad. You were almost jogging now. “Agent, you are not even _running_!” He was barely angry now, his voice just seemed to have lost all hope on you. What a great way to start the day. You started quietly swearing in portuguese while trying to complete your lap.

 

You finally gave a full lap around the field and came back to your starting position, where the soldier waited for you with complete annoyance. You could tell from his posture - his full weight on one foot, his head shaking slowly while his visor followed your trail - and as you arrived you’ve put both hands on your knees, breathing hard and deep.

 

A whole full lap around that field wasn’t small stuff. It was probably twice the size of a football field,and to be honest you used to get winded up from climbing up _one_ set of stairs. How could he expect you to do _twenty_ laps?

 

“That was truly shameful.” He said, head still shaking. You were still heavily panting, trying to catch your breath.

 

“Well, I have asthma…” you mumbled mostly to yourself, but he must have heard it.

 

“ _Excuse_ me?” You quickly froze in place, then took a peek into his direction. Okay, let’s not anger the menacing looking soldier again. Yeah, that was a good idea. “And it’s _sir_ or _commander_ to you. If you wanna be part of the Overwatch, you gotta remember to respect the upper ranks.”

 

“ _You mean respect my_ elders _, right?_ ” you thought to yourself, clearly not brave enough to call him out just like that.

 

“Apply your inducer, agent.” 76 told you, pointing his head towards the small bandolier you wore that was keeping the vaccines Angela had made for you.

 

You opened a pocket in the bandolier, taking a vaccine from it. It was pretty modern, just a small cylinder filled with a bright light blue liquid and a button on top. Angela had told you that you just had to hold the other end against your arm and press the button and a needle would come out and insert the inducer. You looked at it for a second before holding it over your left arm.

 

...Your hand started trembling.

 

“Any problem, agent?” the soldier asked you, and the impatience almost dripped from his voice. You looked at his face (uh, visor) before looking back to your arm and the cylinder. You had no idea what sort of facial expression you made, but it must have not been very good because his posture softened a bit in the same moment.

 

“N-no.” You were never afraid of needles. That wasn’t the issue. When doctor Angela treated you, she used needles and medicines and it was never a problem. But when you thought about getting the strength enhancements going, you somehow froze a little inside. You couldn’t really tell why. “...Sir.” you added, remembering what he said earlier.

 

Biting your own lip’s skin, you pushed the button and watched as the bright liquid left the cylinder and filled your veins. You could see your arm’s veins shining brightly as the inducer traveled through them. You felt no pain, but also felt no difference.

 

“Good. Now take a lap around the field again.” You sighed at that, wondering for how long you’d have to keep this up. Positioning yourself you ran the course again, this time getting much less winded up at the end. You could probably go on for another lap if you tried… Hm. As you arrived the starting point where 76 waited for you, you didn’t stop. You kept going for another lap instead. “You trying to impress me?” He yelled. “Because it’ll take 70 more of those laps for you to do so. Don’t get cocky, kiddo.”

 

What a freaking party pooper.

 

\-------------------------------------

 

The evening had come, and with it the training session had finished. Jack did not ever imagine that training you would be so hard.

 

He watched as you put your feet up a nearby bank to balance yourself while you changed your shoes. You were never trained for physical endurance, he forgot that. All the ‘trials’ (like you mentioned) that you had gone through were mostly just about being able to support weights or land hard blows. Figures: those scientists could create a soldier, but they couldn’t train one. And you still were tiny, frail looking and not intimidating at all, despite having now a healthy weight and not looking as young, since anyone could see how developed your hips were.

...He meant that in the most respectful way, mind you.

 

The commander looked away, pushing that thought back. It did not matter much: you still did not have any endurance compared to an actual “super soldier” like him. You had done your best, though. He could tell, but it was not enough. He took a towel that was on top of the bank and patted it on his neck, trying to dry the sweat on it.

 

“Commander, when will I be able to have a gun?” Your question made him stop on his tracks. It sounded almost innocent on your soft voice, but as he looked in your face he saw the slightly dark expression it held.

 

“...You only have a gun when you are ready to use it.” He answered as a matter of fact, back to drying his neck again.

 

“But I am, sir.” You knitted your eyebrows together, anger building up on your face. You seemed almost like some sort of rebel teenager to him, but he knew you were serious. It was expected, if the Cativeiros had really killed your family like he imagined. Jack had never asked, imagining the wound would have been too fresh for it, but since you had never mentioned them it was the only answer he had.

 

“Don’t rush it.” he threw the towel in your direction, and you struggled to pick it up before it landed on the floor. Jack walked towards the exit “Be back here at 5 am tomorrow. We’ll pick up your training from where we left off.”

 

He didn't miss your exasperated sigh before leaving.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter we are gonna see some characters that haven't showed up in here yet~


	3. Pouring rain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Have you even seen the guy? He is a freaking tower. There is no way I could take him on.”  
> “He is just an old fart! Don’t be too distracted by the muscles, you gotta show him you can handle yourself!”

“Heya,  _ baixinha _ .” Lúcio said, ruffling your hair as you looked back at him with a sleepy face. “What’s up? Tired from training again?”

 

“Hey,  _ sapão _ .” You sighed and sat on the breakfast table, clearly exhausted. It was 7am and you had just woken up, but still felt horribly sore from yesterday’s training session. “Yeah. I’m like… this close to burying myself six feet under.” He laughed at that, not taking you seriously.

 

“If it’s any worth, you totally had some wicked progress since you’ve started months ago.” He nodded with a small smile.

 

“You are just saying that to make me feel better.” You waved your hand, dismissing his praise. “All this time and I never even  _ touched _ a weapon. I’m starting to think they are not even taking me seriously.”

 

“They?” The young man tilted his head, clearly confused.

 

“The Commander and Winston, I mean.” You clarified. “Commander, mostly. He keeps giving me those hard as hell routines, it’s like he is doing his best to just ask me to get tired with that bullshit and give up.”

 

“Then  _ make them  _ take you seriously!” You turned back to the owner of the voice and saw Hana, who pushed your arm a little to shake you. “We girls can’t let those old men tell us what we can or can’t do!” She sat beside you, a frown on her face. “Tell 76 that you feel ready enough to kick his ass!”

 

You snorted, shaking your head. “Have you even  _ seen _ the guy? He is a freaking tower. There is no way I could take him on.”

 

“He is just an old fart! Don’t be too distracted by the muscles, you gotta show him you can handle yourself!” She punched the air in excitement and you smirked at her action.

 

“ _ Besta _ …” You mumbled, and Lúcio chuckled at that, while Hana seemed just annoyed that she couldn’t understand you two. 

 

“Okay but really… you never really tell us how your training with him is.” The korean rolled her eyes “Other than exhausting, that is.” 

 

“Because that’s literally at there is. He makes me work my ass off, says it’s not enough, rinse and repeat.” You touched your forehead to the table, clearly more than tired of it. In the last months, 76 had made you wake up awfully early, do a bunch of exercises mostly focused on endurance and then a few others directed at physical combat, and left you with only a few hours to rest.

“D-don’t look now, buddy, but I think your worse nightmare is coming this way…” Lúcio poked your head, making you raise it to look around. And surely enough, Soldier 76 was walking to your direction, and you felt your blood run cold at the sign.

 

“You are two hours late, agent.” His voice was so serious and angry that you could almost feel Hana wincing beside you. “Get your ass back to the training grounds. Now.”

 

Your eyes widened and you raised your hands motioning around. “It’s  _ pouring _ with rain! I thought-”

 

He lowered himself, face closer “Did I  _ ask _ ?” the voice was dripping with annoyance.

 

“Commander, give her a break…” Hana plead, frowning. “She hasn’t missed any session since you began, and she’s right! There is a whole storm outs-”

 

“No, you know what?” You snapped, standing up. “I’m gonna get this done.” You stomped your way out to the training grounds, hearing 76 walking right behind you with strong steps. You were angry, you were bothered and most of all, you really wanted to get this done and shove the result on your commander’s face.

 

As soon as you arrived to the training grounds you wondered why the hell wasn’t the area covered. Rain poured down the field, and you felt cold just from staring at it. Taking an inducer from your pocket you quickly injected yourself with the bright blue liquid before starting. You turned around and looked at 76, an air of disdain on you as you asked “Orders, sir?”

 

“Give me two sets of pushups and sit ups. Now.” He ordered, and you sighed heavily. “...make that three sets.” 

 

\------------------------------

 

“Two laps to go, agent! You are losing speed!” You grunted as your commander yelled, running right beside you. You took a quick side look at him, hoping the heavy rain would somehow make his visor give him an electric shock that would send him to the ground out cold. Of course, life wasn’t as nice to you and wouldn’t allow you that victory. Figures.

 

“Yes, sir!” You yelled back, trying to run faster now. You tried your best to breathe like he had taught you in the exercises some weeks ago, keeping your head up high, breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth. It was tiring, and your legs felt so sore you could sell them to the black market just to get rid of the pain. How could 76 do that so easily? He could a hundred more laps than you could, without barely breaking a sweat. 

 

You discreetly looked at him by your side. He ran in a steady speed, very different from your wavering pace. You had to admit, it was amazing how easy this was for him, but you guessed you could blame it on the chemical enhancers. Still, it was so easy for him, and he actually had a lot of patience dealing with you so far. You couldn’t do  _ half  _ of what he could, and to be honest that only made you want to push yourself harder. You just wanted to rub it in his face that you could do better than he expected you to.

The commander was looking forward, his visor dripping with rain just like his white hair, and your eyes followed the water trickles, and you stared as they ran from his neck to his chest. That v-neck shirt actually fitted him very well, and you found yourself chewing on your lip’s skin as the water drops went lower.

 

 

Wait.

 

 

_ What? _

 

 

You stumbled and fell to the ground, face first into the mud. 

 

\-----------------------------

 

Jack rolled his head, cracking his neck in the process to relieve stress. It had been a long day, and you hadn’t made it any easier. You sat in a bench, covered from the rain, holding a hand to your left cheek. He approached and sat by your side, a heavy sigh leaving his lips, that came out slightly robotized by his visor. 

 

“...I keep fucking up.” You mumbled, the disappointment clear in your voice. 

 

“Language.” Jack warned you. Turning his face to your direction he saw a slightly red liquid trickle down your face. 

 

“Sorry, sir.” He heard a click of your tongue. “I just really wanted to be a true part of Overwatch, but I can barely get through the practice.”

 

“You’ve progressed.” He replied in a serious tone. “Don’t give up.” You didn’t to feel better with that, as he expected. Jack sighed again, bringing a hand to the back of his neck. “Winston has actually been projecting a set of weapons for you.” 

 

You turned to him, eyes wide with surprise and excitement. “...Really?” 

 

It was true, Winston had asked him for all reports on your progress, and both agreed that it would soon be time for you to stop the general training and begin something more specific with your set of skills in mind. Jack had specifically given his blessing to the choice, claiming that you were more than eager to learn.

 

He didn’t answer, however, and just got a little closer to you, staring at the red trickle running down your cheek. “Let me take a look.” He said, more like an order than an inquire.

You took your hand off from your face, showing the small but deep cut that you had gotten when you fell during your last lap at the field. The red trickle of blood coming from it was faint and thin, but he noticed it was staining your already muddied shirt. Actually, when he saw that, he realized you were as flat chested as Zenyatta’s metal chest. Maybe you were just wearing a sports bra though?

...Was he thinking about your underwear? Okay, this was very inappropriate. There were no second intentions behind the thought, but still. 

 

You tilted your head, and he realized he had been staring you for a while. Jack moved back, increasing the distance between you two, and handed you his towel. You promptly took it and brought it to the small cut in your face. “You should see Angela or Lúcio. I don’t think you’ll be needing any stitches, so be thankful.”

 

You smirked and raised your eyebrows, your hair bangs sticking to your forehead from the dampness. “That’s too bad, scars are badass.” 

 

He exhaled quickly through his nose with a smile on his face, glad that you couldn’t see it because of the visor. “Get inside soon or you’ll catch a cold and I’m not cancelling out training tomorrow because of it.”

 

“Yes, sir!”

 

\-------------------------------------------

 

A few days had passed, you were now sitting on the lounge hall with a few people. The cowboy was sitting there as well, hat covering his eyes as he seemed to take a nap. You were simply reading a book, a little bit displeased at the fact that both Lúcio and Hana, your best friends, had gone on a mission and you were left on the base.

 

Maybe if you just became a full fledge member things wouldn’t be so boring. You had to admit, your training sessions with 76 had become more interesting since the rainy day. Although you couldn’t quite understand why. Whatever had happened, you both seemed to be more at ease with each others presence and things weren’t so awkward now. It also helped that now you knew he wasn’t just distracting you with stupidly difficult routines for you to give up. 

 

Subtle metal clanking sounded through the room and you took a quick glance up to see Genji walking in. You looked back at your book, absorbed in the words.

 

“Hey, Genji.” McCree’s voice suddenly boomed through the room and you gave a small surprised jump while sitted. Wasn’t he sleeping just now? “Be nice and bring me that lighter over at that table, would ya?” Genji walked over to the mentioned table and took the lighter as requested, bringing it to McCree who was already holding a cigar in hand. He lit it up and brought it to his lips, letting the smoke out after a bit. “Hey, how do ya say ‘cigar in japanese?”

Genji sat on a couch nearby and turned his head to McCree’s direction. “... _ Yaoi. _ ” You let your book fall to your lap. “It’s ‘ _ Yaoi _ ’.”

 

“Hmm…” Jesse got comfortable on his seat and covered his eyes with his hat again, unsuspecting. You looked at Genji, your mouth half open in disbelief and he gave you an ‘okay’ sign with his hand.

 

Savage.

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> eyy you might want some quick portuguese translations  
> Baixinha: Shortie  
> Sapão: Big frog, also a slang for 'handsome guy'  
> Besta: Stupid, dummy


	4. Call Name

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “She has a war of her own to win. Just wanna make sure she’s ready for it.” 
> 
> “You don’t have to hold her hand through it, Jack. She can handle herself and learn her own lessons.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the kudos and bookmarks so far! ;u;  
> It really makes me happy to see them!!!  
> By the way, don't be afraid to comment!  
> I would love to know your opinion or if you have any suggestions 'n stuff for this~ ;u;

The beeping sound of your alarm echoed through your room, and you groaned in hazy sleep, slowly opening your eyes with your vision still blurry. 

 

Rolling your way out of bed you’ve grabbed your cell phone and turned the alarm off. The phone wasn’t very modern and couldn’t do some of the cool stuff the new models could, but Hana insisted that you got one to be able to talk to her when she was out on a mission. You weren’t really keen on having a phone or being part of any social medias like her, but you couldn’t say no to her when she gave you those big puppy eyes. 

 

You quickly got ready for another day of training and suffering, putting on a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. Not your best look, but practical. You ruffled your short hair at the back of your neck, staring into the mirror after using the bathroom. It was a little strange still, even months after, to not be a prisoner. Winston had been kind enough to grant you a solo room, considering all the things you’ve had been through you weren’t really found of the idea of sharing a room with people you didn’t know properly. And true enough, having your privacy back was amazing.

 

But you didn’t consider yourself any kinds of special. Who could, when you knew the stories of almost all agents in the Overwatch? Lena had literally been some sort of ‘ghost’ lost in time and space, not able to talk to anyone for who knows how long that felt, for christ’s sake. Mei had waken up in a world much beyond her own time where all of her friends and family were dead, and let’s not even  _ start _ to talk about Genji, because you could go on for hours. 

 

Your eyes lingered on the bandolier you used to carry around your inducers. Come on, that was a small price to pay, so what made you so nervous to use them? During that rainy day a while back you used your inducer with ease. Why all the other times had it been such a bother to do it? Ditching the thought you just put on the bandolier, double checking it to make sure it was tight enough.

 

You grabbed your phone once more, ready to go out and quickly grab something to eat before running to your practice with mister grumpy-76. While walking through the corridors to the cafeteria you felt your phone vibrating in your pocket. 

 

You pulled it out and saw a message Hana had sent you. It was a single selfie of hers, showing a v-sign with her fingers as her meka self destructed with an explosion in the background. She quickly followed it with another message.

 

_ ‘me, owning sum noobs lmao’ _

 

You shook your head and sent a reply.

 

_ ‘Jfc hana pay attention to your freaking job’ _

When you had put your phone back to your pocket you were already at the cafeteria, and to your surprise you’ve spotted Soldier 76 around. Huh. Weird. He was usually on the training grounds much earlier than you. Now he was simply sitting in one of the tables, Jesse McCree was sitting across it, they were probably talking about something.

 

“Good morning, commander. Morning McCree” You’ve greeted after walking towards their way. “Are we uh…” You’ve pointed towards the training fields, not sure how to formulate your question. “Not…?”

 

“Not right now, agent.” He put a gloved hand to your shoulder and holy freaking hell he almost dragged you to the floor with his strength. “Winston wants to see you first. Come to training once you are done.”

 

“O-oh, alright...” You shook your head “- Sir.” You were about to turn to leave but you heard him call for your attention.

 

“Wait.” 76 turned back to face his table and took something from it. “Here.” He raised a piece of toast to your face.

 

“Ah, thanks!” You bit it, taking it from his hand and holding it between your teeth as you waved a bye before leaving.

 

\-----------

 

Jack turned back to his table after you left and was met with McCree’s stare. “...What are you looking at?”

 

“Pfft…” McCree relaxed his posture, a smirk on his face. “Just thinkin’ ‘bout how far she’s come. Girl was so tiny ‘n scared when she arrived, I thought she wouldn’t last a week.” He took one last long look at her back as she left before continuing “I reckon your training did... wonders.’

 

“Ye-” He stopped mid sentence and blinked twice with a frown. Looking up again at Jesse he pointed a finger at him. “Don’t.”

 

The younger man laughed, dropping his head back. “Hey, what makes you think I would?” 

  
  


\-------------

  
  


“Wow, this looks so cool!” You approached the strange machine on top of a table. It was like a box with a handle, full of delicate and intricate details, like bolts and vents that seemed made with a precision you could never find anywhere else. From the box a long shape came out, made out of strong metal, with more intricate details and you couldn’t wait to see it in action. Winston seems to smile at your excitement but Torbjörn simply grunted before replying.

 

“Course it does, what did you expect from me?!” He raised one eyebrow before taking the machine and giving it to you, showing you how to actually hold it. Holy shit it was heavy. You had to hold it with both hands and figured that each time you had to hold it you would need to take your inducers first. “You haven’t even seen this baby working, give it a go right there. That’s how you turn it on, but careful where you point this thing.” 

 

Doing as he commanded you turned on the machine, watching as the long shape started moving, some sort of lasers in spiky shapes turning on, attached to it.

 

_ Puta merda. _

 

You were given a laser chainsaw. This was so badass.

 

Winston brought some papers he was holding closer to his face, analyzing whatever was written there before explaining. “Considering all the observations Soldier 76 made from training you, we’ve realized your speciality is close quarter combat. He did mention that you liked to dive in head first into a fight, and that your aim needed work. We believe putting your strength enhancers to good use with a strong weapon would be the most ideal. We’ve also decided to give you a healing aid to compensate the close distance stance, so it might be best if you carry your own healing darts along with the inducers to inject yourself if needed.”

 

“Your baby there has an ability to shoot as well, though.” Torb said, pointing out a few buttons and triggers for you. “So you're not confined to close combat only. It’s not it’s best feature, obviously. Shoots only one laser at a time, so don’t rely much on it.”

 

It felt even scary having all this power in your hands in the form of a weapon, but something like excitement build up inside your stomach. “This is...more than amazing. Thank you.” You looked over at both Winston and Torbjörn, not even sure how to express your gratitude. The fact that they were giving you a weapon especially designed for your skills was a shot of faith from them to you. They trusted you enough for that, and it was seriously almost heart warming. “I promise I’ll do my best and use this responsibly.”

 

“Hey, it’s fine. We expect you to wreak some havoc. Just make sure it’s over at the enemy lines.” Winston smirked at you, and you couldn’t help smiling back at that. “There is one more thing, though… I know you can’t remember your name, but we need to give you a call name. That’s all that’s left to make your oficial joining complete.”

 

\-----------------------

  
  


The straps holding your new weapon to your back were straining your shoulders, but you felt content to the sensation of carrying it around. Well, it was really too heavy to hold it in front of you, so your backs would have to do the job for now. You would compensate them later on by resting on your bed for a while, but now you had training to do. 

 

Walking your way back to the training grounds you wondered how 76 would react to your new weapon. You expected to rub the accomplishment in his face when you arrived there, but something unusual made you decide against it: someone else was there with him.

 

They wore a hood and a long coat, clothes mostly colored in black and blue with many armor pieces and pockets all around. They seemed ready to war, but what really threw you off was the mast they wore: it fully hid their face, with a inverted blue triangle of sorts on it, glowing dimly. Great, as if not being able to tell what facial expression 76 was making at you was bad enough already you now had another friend in the 24/7 mask wearer squad. 

 

Your commander turned around to your direction when he realized you were there, and you swallowed hard. “U-uhm…” Your eyes darted from one mask to another. “Sorry, I guess I forgot today was ‘hide your face’ day.”

 

76 didn’t seem amused at all by that, but the other person chuckled at your lame joke and you realized it was a woman’s voice. “This is Shrike. She’ll train you today.” O-oh. Your eyes trailed behind him as he moved closer to the exit as something build up in your chest. Yeah, you were kinda disappointed.

 

“Ah, I…” Your voice was quiet and he stopped, visor turned to your direction. Okay,  _ merda _ , this wasn’t how you expected it to go. You just really wanted to show him the weapon you were given and thank him for putting up with you all these months because, damn, was it worth it. But  _ of course _ , he wouldn’t give you that satisfaction. You shouldn't have expected it any different, to be honest. It’s obvious that he would be getting rid of the annoyance that training you must be as soon as he could. Slowly the feeling of disappointment turned into anger, and a sarcastic smile creeped up it’s way into your lips, pressed together by the indignation. “...I’ll do my best, sir.”

 

You could swear that his gaze lingered to your direction for a second more than it should, but soon he gave a quick nod of his head and left. Ah, the feeling of being ignored. So nice, only not really. You turned back to Shrike, who was approaching your direction. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, agent. I believe you are an official part of the Overwatch now?”

 

Shrugging you looked over to the other side, feeling a little apprehensive under the stare of her full-faced mask. “Not really. I need a call name first, but I can’t think of any yet.”

 

“You’ll find one soon enough. It is mostly just a formality.” She waved her hand, dismissing the worry you had and you realized she has some sort of accent you couldn’t quite tell from where it was. “I’ve heard you need work with your aim so I’m here today to help out on that.” Shrike took a rifle that was laying on a nearby bench (has that been there the whole time?) and pointed to a small target by the other side of the field. “First, I wanna see if you can hit that. And apply yourself those inducers Angela made you, because you’ll be holding that chainsaw for a long time today.”

 

A long whistle left your lips. “I haven’t ever tried shooting anything, but sure. I can try.” Taking out a inducer from your bandolier you stared at it for a while. You took a deep breath and tried to steady your hand against your left arm.  _ ‘It’s just an inducer, come one. I can do this…’ _ Shrike seemed to patiently wait for you to be finished, not saying anything until you finally pressed the button and applied it, veins bright blue with the liquid. Wasting no time you retrieved your weapon from your back, realizing how much lighter it felt now. 

 

You turned the device on, bright laser lights meeting your gaze. Fingers brushing against the trigger Torb had showed you before, you positioned yourself while aiming for the target. “Now remember, that may not be an actual gun, but it works just like one. So be sure to watch out for the-” You pulled the trigger, and felt an unexpected force pulling the whole weapon back, making it hit you straight in the chest, which made you let out a ‘ _ Oomph!’ _ sound as the shot completely missed the target. “...recoil.”

 

\--------------------------

 

“Another round, agent.” Shrike’s voice called out, and so you obeyed. She had helped you aim, alright. But that was easier when you were just standing up still for a while. You were now running around obstacles, jumping up and down while having to shoot your target. The thing is… you barely ever hit it. She was being incredibly patient with you, despite that but you were almost choking on your wounded pride at this rate. Your face kept scrunching up with anger each time you had to shoot, an almost feral feeling on the pit of your stomach. It was getting dark now, your training was probably getting closed to an end for today and that made you even more nervous. You missed your shot for a couple inches once more and growled in anger, right before Shrike chuckled at your reaction.

 

Turning back you walked to her direction, feeling the sweat in your forehead. “ _ Porra _ , this is… really hard.” A heavy sigh left your lips “I’m sorry, is getting late, but I really wanna keep trying.” You frowned, chewing on your bottom lip’s skin.

 

Another chuckle left Shrike’s mask, as she crossed her arms in some sort of amusement. “You are just like 76 described. Running around like an animal, focusing on doing what your instincts tell you…” Huh, that sounded like the kind of mean thing he’d say. Shrike came closer to you and put her hand on the top of your head. “...but when you have an objective, you would get it done by any means necessary, just like a wild fox would.”

 

Oh.

 

Oh, that was probably the nicest thing he had said about you so far. Suddenly those feelings of anger you felt earlier for both him and your own skills were replaced by a heavy guilt. Okay, maybe you didn’t need to be so harsh on the guy, it wasn’t his job to indulge on your stupid pride anyways. Besides, you were sure you’d be able to show him your true skills one day soon, and maybe even prove him right. You hoped.

 

Shrike took her hand off of your head, putting some distance between you two with a step back. “Your skills aren’t  _ bad _ , agent, stop putting yourself down. You just need training. And that’s why we are here after all, to train them until we can make sure they’ll be on their top performance peak.” She pointed to the target with her head. “Once more. Until you get it right for ten consecutive times.”

  
  


\-----------------------

  
  


It was way past midnight when Jack went to the lounge and found Ana sitting on a comfortable armchair, drinking warm tea and reading a book. Her Shrike helmet was opened, legs crossed in total relaxation. She heard his steps, but didn’t turn to his way before calling out. “Having trouble sleeping, Jack?”

 

He walked to her direction, a slight smile on the corners of his mouth, but she never heard the answer to that question. “How was it?” Jack took a seat in front of her, clearly waiting for info about how your training had been.

 

She took one final long sip, before looking up at him. “Well, aren’t you eager to know?” A playful smirk appeared on her face as she watched him taking off his visor, blue eyes staring back at her. “She’ll get there. It’s just as you said, she will take any means necessary to do it. She seemed somehow disappointed, though…” Ana chuckled, and she smiled as his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “She really wanted to either thank you or shoot your head off. I couldn’t tell.”

 

“She’ll be thankful for the hard training once we are out in the battlefield.” A gloved hand went through his hair, staying on his own neck as he cracked it. Truth be told, Jack was always a bit scared to be taking it too hard on you, but he felt like he needed to teach you the things he wished someone had taught him when he was your age. He somehow saw a bit of himself in you, considering the soldier enhancement program. “She has a war of her own to win. Just wanna make sure she’s ready for it.” 

 

“You don’t have to hold her hand through it, Jack. She can handle herself and learn her own lessons.” Ana closed her book while staring at him with a serious expression. “She’s not even that young. She may as well be 30 years old.”

 

Jack raised his eyebrows at that. “I thought Dr. Ziegler said she had the body structure of an early 20’s?”

 

The hood on Ana’s head moved slightly as she shook it, clearly displeased. “Try to be starved for eight years. That happens.” She frowned at him. “Don’t simply make assumptions. Talk to her. She trusts you, and she admires you. It would be good for her.”

 

A snort came out of him “I thought you said she wanted to shoot my head off?”

 

“...That’s what people wanna do when they admire you, no?” Jack watched as a sad smile formed on her lips, and he suddenly felt a huge weight drop on his chest. He tried not to think about the implications on that phrase, but could feel it creeping in the back of his mind while he put his visor back on without a word. Ana took it as a hint and opened her book once more as he walked towards the door.

 

“She chose her call name, by the way.” His old friend said, not taking her eyes off the book. Jack stopped on his tracks and turned his head over his shoulders. “Just thought you’d like to know.”

 

He waited to see if she was going to say anything else, but hell, if he knew Ana enough he was sure she wanted him to insist. “And what is it?”

 

“Feneco.” Her eyes still not leaving the book. Jack repeated the call name mentally, trying to understand it.

 

“...She told you what it means?” The man hesitated before asking, feeling the urge to crack his knuckles in nervousness.

 

“It’s brazillian portuguese for ‘Fennec’. You know…” She finally turned away from her book to look at him, and he couldn’t tell what she was thinking behind her deep gaze. “...Like the fox.”

  
. _..Oh. _

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ayyy translations, anyone?
> 
> Puta merda: something like 'Holy shit'  
> Merda: Shit  
> Porra: something like 'fuck'
> 
> What a dirty mouth 8'D I guess that's the con of no one understanding your mother language.
> 
> I tried to keep the main character's age ambiguous, btw. But she keeps becoming her own character, and I really wanna keep her relatable but I just don't like writing 'non face no personality' characters :c I'll keep doing my best, though!


	5. Picture

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “It’s my fault, I shouldn’t have fallen asleep here.”
> 
> “Old habits die hard, I guess…”

 

“Fee- Feen-” The slightly robotic voice tried to say, having trouble with the pronunciation.

 

“No no, it’s ‘Fe’ as in february.” You corrected Genji, who was sitting in front of you. “And ‘neco’ as in… you know.” You put your hands in little fists in front of your body, imitating a cat’s paw. “Neko. Nya.”

 

He stood still for a few moments, before chuckling. “That is adorable.” A small blush creeped its way into your cheeks as you shrugged.

 

A couple of days had passed since you began your aim training with Shrike, and since then you hadn’t seem Soldier 76. Hana and Lúcio were supposed to be back from their mission this week, and you figured it wouldn’t take much longer for you to see them since Hana had sent you a pic not long ago of them both, captioned ‘we lived bitch’.

 

Shrike had left off early from your training today, claiming that she had some personal matters to attend to, so you got back to the cafeteria hoping to get some well deserved rest.

...Alright, there was something else you wanted to get done as well. Every since Shrike mentioned what commander-grumpy had told her about you, a heavy guilt was set on your chest. To be honest, you never really thanked him for training you, and it was kind of eating you from the inside now. The thing was, you hadn’t seen him yet. And well, you needed to gather some courage to thank him, to be honest. It was hard to explain, but somehow you didn’t want to accept that you owned him one.

 

Genji suddenly turned his attention so sharply to the other way that made you look around as well as instinct. It was McCree, sitting beside Hanzo  who was serving himself some green tea. You weren't really sure why that had caught Genji’s attention so much, until you remembered something.

 

McCree lit up a cigar and raised it to his lips before saying the phrase that made the whole room go silent. “I do love me some Yaoi in the morning.”

 

The silence was so dense that you could  almost touch it. Your gaze darted to Hanzo, who had his eyes widen and face flushed, failing miserably to drink his tea and spilling it all over himself.

 

“Ya okay there partner?” The cowboy asked, clearly worried by that reaction. You felt some movement next to you and realized that Genji was trembling. Muscles tensing up, the worse scenario played in your mind: was he angry? It wasn't long after that you realized…

 

He was holding back laughter. He had planned the whole situation weeks ago.

 

_Fucking savage._

  


\----------------------

 

It was near lunch time and you had bailed away from the awkward situation Genji had created and decided to try and find 76. He was big, muscular and wore a fucking red visor, how hard could it be?

 

Turns out: very. You had searched at the gym, training fields, bot fighting room, library, lounge… Hell, you were _this_ close to barging into the male bathroom. Your feet pretty much dragged themselves across the corridors, and you wondered if it was really so necessary to talk to him after all. Until, of course, you were passing through a certain corridor near the dorms, and you spotted a certain red blur with the corner of your eyes.

 

Soldier 76 was sitting on a bench, arms crossed over his chest, head hanging to the front. _‘Oh freaking finally.’_ You approached with a sigh. “Hey, command-” The unexpected sign of his chest rising and falling slowly and a small robotic wheeze of his visor made you stop in your tracks.

 

He was asleep. For a moment you thought it would be better to turn around and leave, but for some strange reason you couldn’t take your eyes off of him. His shoulders were low, his ankles were rested one above the other and he seemed just… relaxed. Some months ago you weren’t even sure if he was _human_ , considering how he managed to do everything you couldn’t and then some. And now there he was, seeming so cozy and comfortable even if he was sitting in a bench instead of sleeping on a proper bed. Man, what wouldn’t you give to be able to show this to Hana.

 

Wait. You could! Taking your phone from your pocket you mentally thanked Hana for insisting you to get it in the first place. You just had to take a single picture, maybe decorate it with some funny filters and stickers and send it to her later on. Actually, definitely decorate it first, she would laugh her ass off at that.

You aimed the camera at him, only to find the lightning wasn’t so good from that angle, since his visor kind of reflected it. Biting your lip you decided to just risk it and get closer to take a pic mostly of his head hanging in sleep. Getting closer was easy, but as soon as you saw him from up close you froze in place. The robotic wheeze was louder now, and you could take in his breathing pattern, as well as see him from an angle you could have never seen before, since he always towered over your small stature.

 

You took a deep breath and positioned your camera, making sure that it was focused on him, but as soon as you pressed the confirm button, you felt your stomach drop.

 

The flash option was on.

 

It was all too fast. The bright light flash, the loud picture snap sound, and of course, the gloved hand that firmly grabbed your arm and hastily pointed it to the other way in instinct.

 

Soldier 76 was now facing you, visor reflecting your own surprised and scared expression: eyes widened, mouth half open and eyebrows shot up. His grip on your arm was painful, and you could see the small expression lines on his forehead, noticing that he must have been frowning behind that mask. Your lips trembled, and you almost let your phone drop, but you didn’t move one inch. All you could think of was how strong his grip was and how -surprisingly- you could clearly feel his scent. A few seconds that seemed like an eternity passed, the small lines on his forehead disappeared and he slowly released your arm. “I-I’m sorry…” was all you could mumble, as he faced away from you again and lowered his head, raising both hands to the back of it and taking a deep breath, as if he was recovering from a huge scare.

 

“It’s my fault, I shouldn’t have fallen asleep here.” The shaking of his head made you feel a little more grounded, as if you had just came back to reality after a weird dream. He didn’t seem okay, though. Far from it. It was like if you had given him the scare of his life, and you wondered for a second if he was having a nightmare when you woke him up by accident. Part of you wanted to put a hand on his shoulder and ask him if he needed anything, but you were feeling too guilty for whatever had happened just now. Oh my god, he probably thought you were a creepy ass stalker or something, you were _taking a picture_ of him _while he slept_ . How was _that_ a good idea?! Your guilt merged into embarrassment and you felt your face getting hot from blushing. “You... need anything, agent?” His head turned back to your direction, only this time much further away than before.

 

“U-u-uhm-...!” You felt yourself frown and stumbled upon your words, barely remembering why you were there in the first place.  Oh god, this was so awkward. “I-I wanted to-...” you felt the words get stuck in your throat, the grip you had on your cellphone became tighter and tighter and you hoped you wouldn’t break it. “Okay, I’m gonna be honest?” Your shoulders drooped in defeat and your commander adjusted himself on his seat, clearly interested about what you had to say. “I know this feels like terrible timing now, but I just wanted to, you know, thank you.”

 

“Thank me?” he wasted no time in asking, and you faced the other way, still feeling your face warm from earlier. You felt a little angry that he was gonna make you explain it.

 

“For uh… putting up with me all these months. Let’s be honest, I’ve only became an official member because of your awesome training. So… yeah.” You shrugged. “Sorry again for the bad timing, sir.”

 

You were rewarded with a single chuckle, but it still made you freeze in place. It was brief, but it was a nice sound, and it made you smile without even noticing. “Actually, you couldn’t have chosen a better time.” You raised an eyebrow at that, not really getting it but relieved either way. “And stop putting yourself down, the training only works if you put effort into it, which you have done time and time again, Feneco.” Hearing your call name on his voice for the first time was strange, but still exciting. You figured it would take a while of getting used to it. He watched as you sat beside him, a tiny smile still on your lips. “Just make sure you keep it that way.”

 

“Yes, sir.” You nodded, and both of you looked to somewhere else in the room, avoiding each other's stare at the same time. A silence lingered between you two, but it wasn’t uncomfortable or awkward: it felt relaxing. After a few minutes you were the first to break it, though. “You know… I kinda still have nightmares about the Cativeiros and the Undertake project.” He turned to you at that, but said nothing. “I feel safe now, but I don’t think it will ever go away completely, huh?”

 

He shook his head slowly, and you finally felt you were getting somewhere. His posture was no longer relaxed, though, as you noticed his hands were curled into fists now. It was different from his usual rigid and stoic demeanor: this time you felt like he was nervous beside you.

 

“Sir?” You called out, voice shy. “Back then… when you found me… you knew I was a ‘brainwashed’ prisoner, and you knew I could attack anytime.” You brushed a lock of hair to behind your ear and frowned in confusion. “...Why didn’t you just shoot me when you saw me?”

 

His gaze lingered at you for a long while, before it turned to the front once more. “Old habits die hard, I guess…” Soldier 76 mumbled mostly to himself before standing up and walking away.

 

You were left to sit alone in confusion.

 

\-------------------------

  


If there was something Jack taught himself in the passing of years it was not to let his guard down. Still, when you spend the whole night tossing and turning in bed or just exercising to not let time go to waste, you end up tired. And that was his routine for years now, it was expected that from time to time he couldn’t resist the small naps during the day here and there. He just never expected that you would find him during that time.

Not long after arriving to his room his visor was off. His reflection in the mirror showed the dark circles under his eyes as a result of all those nights with barely to no sleep. _‘No rest for the soldiers’_ , he would tell himself, but even he had needs even if he wanted to believe he didn’t. His mind wandered off to what had just happened, and the first thing that came to his mind was how we woke up to your scared expression.

 

He had been having a nightmare, alright. The dull explosions in the distance, the sounds of comrades falling, the barrel of a black shotgun aimed at his face as a bone white mask stared at him… and then there was a flash of light and a sound that he could swear it was the gun going off. He moved it away by instinct, only a few seconds too late. And the first thing that he was was your face. And his first thought was the belief that you had shot him.

 

It wasn’t long after that he realized how scared you seemed, and that all you had in hand was a stupid cellphone. _‘It was a dream. She didn’t shoot you.’_ he would mentally repeat to himself, trying to shake off the feeling of betrayal from his mind. And your words of gratitude came to his mind, he still couldn’t understand how you thanked him even after he almost broke your arm in surprise, but it sure made him come back to reality. He barely gave any thought to the fact that you were taking a picture of him at the time, but now it was confusing him a little. You also seemed so embarrassed when caught in the act, he couldn’t forget the way your cheeks lit up in bright red during that moment or how much you stumbled over your words. The small subtleties in your actions were like a reminder that whatever had went on his mind it was indeed just a nightmare, nothing more.

 

Jack brought the hem of his shirt to his face, drying the small sweat drops that had found their way down his forehead and taking a deep breath while doing it. Ana’s words from before rang on his mind _“Talk to her. She trusts you, and she admires you. It would be good for her.”_ but it was you who had talked to him. Every since they had saved you, you barely spoke anything about your time in the Undertake project or how it affected you, but you opened your mind to him about your nightmares, only to make him feel better about his own. He had lived more than you, he had experienced much more, but he somehow forgot that you have had bad experiences of your own. You had seen much, you had a history of your own, but he still couldn’t be as open with you. After all those months  he found _himself_ admiring you and trusting you.

 

\-------------------------

 

The way back to your room was long and tiring, but your heart was racing all the same. You felt something was strange but did your best not to think much about it before arriving to your room with some privacy. Locking the metal door device behind you, your back touched the door and you let out a deep breath that you didn’t realize you were holding in. It was still morning, but you somehow didn’t feel like lunching or training anymore for today anymore.

 

What had just happened? Your mind was working at full speed, and you first remembered the grip of Soldier 76’s hand on your arm. Raising your sleeve you took a look at it, but even if it had hurt there is no way you would see any marks so soon, so you are not sure what you expected. Your other hand caressed it lightly, the feeling you had at the time was just as intense as it kept being now. You walked your way to your bed, dropping your whole body face first into it. Suddenly you became aware of the cellphone that was still in your pocket so you took it out and brought it close to your face, resting your body on your elbows. Sliding the lock screen you were met with the picture you had taken minutes ago.

 

Oh, right. You were supposed to send it to Hana. Your eyes scanned the picture once more, taking a final look at all the details. The memory was still fresh in your mind: his steady and deep breathing, the relaxed posture, the texture of his hair, his masculine scent… suddenly, the scene didn’t seem so funny anymore. You had seen him on one of his most vulnerable moments, not just sleeping but waking up in fear from a nightmare. The way he took a deep breath after he realized what was really going on, relief becoming visible in his posture… and the deep sound of his brief but surprising chuckle not long after. He was so close and at the same time so closed, and seeing that side of him only made you want to make it show itself even more.

 

Now that you thought about it, all this time he had done his best to guide you and train you even when you were being a brat. You could barely remember but his encouraging words when Overwatch saved you from the Cativeiros were so kind. He was kind, he simply had a big layer of rigid rules and stoicness covering it. Suddenly all of his tiny nice actions came to mind: how he always gave you a towel and water bottle at the end of his training, the one day he gave you a piece of toast on the go because he knew you wouldn't have time to sit down and eat, how he asked to see the little cut you got after falling face first into the ground to make sure you were okay...and you tried to not think about it but on that same day you were mesmerized by his body.

 

...You weren't gonna send the picture to Hana anymore. You wanted that image only for yourself, you wanted that moment to be yours and yours alone.

 

...Oh shit you were in trouble.


	6. Study

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I…have to read all that?”  
> “I don’t know… have you?”

 

Things weren’t awkward between you two. You could still down and have some talk, nothing weird about it. But at the same time, Jack felt like you were sometimes avoiding him nowadays. It was none of his business, obviously, so he didn’t say a word about it with you. Still, he would think about it from time to time and wonder if he offended you somehow.

 

You were just finishing your training with Ana when he walked in on the training fields. You didn’t even saw him, completely focused on whatever Ana was telling you as you aimed with your weapon to a training bot walking in lines. Your posture was correct, your focus was in control, and Jack actually felt something strange bottle up on his throat. He was actually proud of how far you’ve come. To think when he first saw you, you were in such bad conditions and could barely support your own weight. Now there you were, doing your best as an Overwatch agent. 

Back in the day, when he used to be the first in control of Overwatch, he would feel proud of an agent here and there. Most of them overcame difficulties and it somehow did warm his old heart even to this day to think about how they were working for justice.

 

He approached you both, with a few documents in hand. As soon as you spotted him though, your stance became completely off and your grip on your weapon weak. Huh, that’s weird, maybe he’s been pressuring you too much on your trainings together, you seemed almost scared to see him. A small tinge of pain went through him with that thought, but it soon disappeared as he got closer to Ana, raising the documents at her so she could take them.

 

“What is this?” She asked right after taking a look a the first page.

 

“It’s as it says: Overwatch files.” He turned his gaze to you, who was now standing up straight with your weapon by your side. “Winston said she’s gotten enough practical training for now. Time to study more of what we are  _ really _ doing.”

 

You seemed annoyed but nodded. “I guess I don’t have a choice.”

 

“Come” He said pointing over his shoulder with his head. “We have a room with videos you should watch as well. Me and Shrike will be around so you can ask any questions you might have.”

 

\-----------------------

 

The room was dimly lit, filled with bookcases and a big projector on top of a large table, were comfortable chairs could be seen. It looked like that room hadn’t been used in a while. Shrike started walking around and searching for files on the bookcases, and 76 started setting up some videos on the projector.

 

Honestly, you never thought about actually getting to know Overwatch. You knew they had done good things in the past, but right now they were just means to an end. You needed them to destroy Undertake and find justice. Then again, Undertake is against everything Overwatch represents, so you might as well take some important information outta this.

 

Sitting in one of the chairs you’ve looked around some more, taking in the sight of all the amount of documents, books and papers around. Suddenly 76 was at your side and you tensed up, raising your own shoulders a little bit. He sat a big file of documents in front of you, then crossed his arms.

 

“I…have to read  _ all _ that?” You asked with a wince, already expecting your next days to be boring as hell.

 

“I don’t know… _ have you _ ?” His voice was stern but you could almost hear a pinch of amusement in it. “Skip to the parts that might be more interesting if you want.” He supported his weight against the table, and you frowned at him. “There are also videos you might want to watch.” You nodded and he stood up straight and walked back to the bookshelves with some armchairs where Shrike was resting. “Just call if you need us.”

 

You nodded, then looked at the files in front of you. As you went through them, you realized 76 had been nice to you, as he gave you some very resumed information documents about the start of Overwatch. Not only about the commanders but also about the creators. 

Somehow you felt that this was going to be more interesting than you had first imagined.

 

\--------------------

  
  


You were devouring every file.

It surprised Jack. He expected you to be bored out of your mind with the task, but days had passed and you kept going there as if it was some sort of class: always the same time, always the same people. 

He discussed it with Ana, who was far from being surprised. She said things about how it was hard to dislike Overwatch and it's ideals. Jack couldn't seem to comprehend the concept, but he figured maybe if it was him from some years prior it would have been easy. 

 

He was designed by Winston to help you with your doubts and questions along with Ana. He hated it. Having to relieve everything from the past was torture. That was  _ his _ past. But you didn't know that. And every time you went to him asking questions about the leadership of the old Overwatch, he replied with a small smile you’d never see behind the mask. And you’d listen with a smile of someone who was hearing about their idols.

 

Today had been no different. You were watching one of the videos on the projector. It was a public appearance from himself trying to make people see how Overwatch was helping them. But this was after the good old times and people wanted Overwatch gone by then. 

In the video, he replied to every single question with great determination. Until he was asked about the Blackwatch when all went to shit. People booed, yelled and he was barely able to reply anymore. 

 

That memory hurt Jack. How he was doing his best to save Overwatch, but it didn't matter. It was destroyed from inside out already. 

 

Suddenly, you turned your head back to see him and asked “Wanna watch too? There's a chair right here.” and he realized he had been staring for too long. He shook his head and came back to organize the documents at the table. You were still taking a long look at the video, sometimes pausing and going back a few seconds to take the info in. “There's not much about the Blackwatch here.”

 

“Obviously.” He replied and saw a pout form in your face “Since we won't be making it this time.” Jack looked to his right side and saw Ana reading a book. He wondered if she could even listen to them. 

 

“The Commander of it was the Reyes one, right? I saw McCree and Genji were part of it. Maybe I could ask th-” you barely finished and Jack jumped right in.

 

“No” his tone was firm and stern. “Forget blackwatch. It was one of the reasons it all went to shit.” He shook his head and you nodded. But to be honest he was pretty sure the advice had been wasted and you would soon talk to them anyway. He knew you far too well by now, sometimes he wanted to keep you on a tight leash and not let you stray too far or do anything stupid, but he tried to do as Ana had told him: ‘don't hold her hand through it and let her learn things by herself.’

 

Jack watched with documents in hand as you turned back to the videos. He tried to organize everything you had already read. “Too bad I wasn't there at the time. Seems unfair how things turned out.” You said and he felt his heart melt slightly at that if only for a second. No, it wasn't fair, but such is life. It wasn't fair how things turned out on Overwatch, or with the civilians who needed protection, or between him and Gabriel. 

 

“Wouldn't change much, I can assure you.” He answered putting on hand on your shoulder and slightly squeezing it. Jack then turned his attention back at the pile of documents on his hands.

 

“Still. And well, you know… that Strike commander Morrison guy could totally get it.” You were still staring at the video holograms.

 

“Get what?” He said not paying much attention and still looking at the documents. When you didn't answer he looked up to you. You cleared your throat and wiggled your eyebrows.

 

Jack let all documents fall to the floor. 

 

“Oh my gosh that was too unprofessional wasn't it?” You said waving your hands in front of you motioning for him to forget what you just said. “I'm sorry, it's just- I felt kinda comfortable talking to you and it just slipped- uh s-sir.”

 

“I'll let it slip.” He managed to say but Jack could barely breathe. He looked over at Ana, waiting to see if she heard that but she said nothing and kept reading. He felt a pressure on his chest and he wasn't sure if it was laughter coming so he quickly excused himself out of the room and left you embarrassed with Ana in the corner of the room.

 

As soon as Jack left the room he pressed his back to a nearby wall and took a deep breath. He wasn't sure what he was feeling, to be honest. Did you just said you would fuck the younger version of him? Suddenly it seemed too ridiculous to think about and Jack left some laughs come off from him, rumbling on his chest. Hell, he hadn't been laughing for a long time now, that was unexpected.

 

After the funny moment was gone though he was left with a strange feeling: regret. He wasn't sure why but he did regret not being able to meet you back then. How would you react to him? You saw him as a hero now, would it still be the same? Would you actually be romantically interested on him? That last one caught him by surprise. Why did it matter? It wasn't possible, it was never gonna happen, why did he even think about it? 

 

It wasn't as if you were undesirable. Far from it. Jack had caught himself staring at your hips while you trained before, but he quickly brushed it away as just a simple human reaction. But now the image of you with him -even if younger-  wouldn't leave his mind. 

 

He just did his best to shook the thought away and decided to get some water to cool down.

 

\------------------

 

“So.” Shrike’s slightly robotized voice called out. “That's how you kids call it nowadays?” 

 

You blushed hard. She was actually listening the whole time? “I totally blew it, didn't I?” You stood up to get the documents 76 had left on the floor before leaving. If felt like a walk of shame.

 

Shrike laughed “It is fine. I'm sure he was just surprised with the sudden uh… Intimacy of the subject” you slapped the papers face first, trying to hide behind them “He is simply not used to it. But I know he appreciates how open you’ve been with him.”

 

“Uh… You  _ know _ ?” You asked, getting closer to her carefully as if stepping on stones. 76 never really mentioned much about Shrike to you but they sure could be found together from time to time.

 

“Of course. We do talk a lot, you know. He doesn't tell me the nature of your conversations or anything in particular you’ve said, don't worry.” Shrike waved her hand motioning for you not to think about it. “But he does love to tell me how you are doing or what you had achieved that day.” She chuckled lightly and you felt your heart warm up with it. You were now in front of her, a small smile on your face. “I feel like I know you much more than you know me.” 

 

You shrugged. “Well that's obvious since I don't wear a mask or anything.” You chuckled back at her. She caught your hand and pulled you down slightly and you took the hint to kneel next to her. She then passed her hand through your hair locks caressingly. 

 

“All in due time.” Just then you felt something you hadn't in years: a mother’s love. It was warm, sweet and you've missed it like wow but you simply hadn't realized up until now. Maybe all the training and studying made you forget this type of thing for a while. Your curiosity peaked and you decided to ask her about it.

 

“Do you have any kids, mam’?” You risked and asked her looking up at the mask. You wondered for a second how she looked, what was her age and so. Talking to a mask was always annoying to you but Shrike made it much more comfortable than it would be.

 

“One beloved daughter.” Shrike answered and squeezed your hand. “As stubborn as you.” You both chuckled lightly and right then 76 entered the room again, finding you kneeling and resting on Shrike’s lap, who hold your hand. 

 

“Oh don't let her  _ mom _ you. She'll never stop.” He walked to you both and raised his hand, asking for the documents you retrieved from the ground minutes before. 

 

Giving them to him you heard Shrike huff insulted. “Look who's talking.”

 

\------------------

 

It was late, you were resting on your bed with your phone in hand and you felt ridiculous, since you were staring at  _ that _ picture of 76 and thinking about what Shrike had told you. 

 

You had managed to keep your crush to yourself for now, hiding when 76 was around wearing that tight v neck black t-shirt, talking normally with no awkwardness to him, and just avoiding him when the feeling was a little too much to bear. But Shrike's words made all that crumble down in hours. 

 

He talked to her about  _ you _ . He actually enjoyed the talks and times spent together you had. You knew that meant nothing but deep inside there was a little teenager you screeching and running in circles. 

You tried to ground yourself to the thought that he never gave you any reason to believe your crush was two sided. Even worse, many times he treated you like a kid, calling you ‘kiddo’, underestimating you… Even so you couldn't stop your imagination from running wild. 

 

The way his collarbones showed up when he was wearing a v neck could drive you mad. His muscles flexing in training, the sweat running down his body… You could imagine your own body pressed hard against a wall by him, his grip on your waist, you both grinding slightly against each other, begging for another touch, another move. His grip was so strong, you never forgot it since the day you took that picture. You could picture him pulling you up by your thighs, keeping your legs completely open for him, and only him. The cold metal of his visor against the warm skin of your neck, the masculine smell you never forgot invading your lungs intoxicatingly, the grinding getting more and more intense until you both would unzip your clothes and- 

 

No no no no no oh dear lord you were going to hell. You threw the cellphone to your side, taking your eyes off the picture. He was probably twice your age, if not more! What were you thinking!? What about a masked old man was so goddamn attractive to you?! How did he simply stole your attention in the spawn of months? There were many attractive agents at Overwatch and you only had eyes for him still. No one was as good as him, or as attractive to you. 

 

This had to stop. You had to stop. Thinking. About it! You couldn't avoid him so just living with the crush would be your doom for sure. You took a deep breath and accepted your fate. 

 

Taking your phone once more you texted Hana: “Im ded. Write ‘killed by impossible crush’ on my grave”

 

She took a while but replied back: “Mah bro im sure we can get genji senpai to notice you”

 

You rolled your eyes and texted back “I'm not talking about him”

 

The reply came faster this time “who then? Tell your squad, me and lu can help ya” 

 

You bit your lip. Should you tell her? The thought had been screaming on your mind for weeks now and putting it out would feel amazing. But now wasn't the time. “I can't”

 

Her reply was a little slower this time and you could imagine her just staring angrily at the message. “Well what u want then? Make me curious and leave?” 

 

You huffed “I need support!” 

 

“then go get lucio im not support im tank” 

 

\------------------

 

The mental image would not go away and he  _ hated _ it. 

It was late night and Jack was still sitting on the edge of his bed, holding his head with both hands. He wished you hadn't said anything back then because it was just getting worse as time went by. His heart was beating wildly against his chest but he felt a cold shrill all over his body, and he kept trying to breathe even breaths. 

He could distract himself during the day and not think about it but now it was near impossible. The way you said you would be totally okay with him having sex with you was plaguing his brain. It was so automatic, so sure of it, so personal. If only you knew that was him behind the mask, but little would it matter since years had gone by. It was just him, old and tired, and no longer the young blonde commander you had seen and been attracted to. You wouldn't -and shouldn't- even spend your time on him.

Still, the image of his younger years tucking your hair behind your ear, whispering unspeakable things and pulling away to see your blushing face wouldn't leave his mind no matter what. How he could easily go behind you, lay his hands on your hips and bite your ear. How he could ask you to touch your toes, and watch as you would softly grind your ass against his pelvis, praising you as you did so, feeling the delicious warm coming from your core. He would turn you quickly, getting a hold of your jaw with strength and kiss you hard- 

 

Suddenly the Jack from his imagination was now exactly as himself currently, all wrinkles added. And he was  _ kissing _ you. Jack jumped slightly on his seat. Oh. Oh this was wrong. Not like it wasn't before but now it felt even more. 

The mental image of him kissing you was burned on his mind, and he couldn't stop. Thinking. About it.

 

When did that even happen? Yesterday he was talking to you about how the cafeteria’s mokaccino tasted and now he was imagining you romantically involved with him. You of all people: who trusted him with so much strength it showed up on your callname and who was trained by him all this time. It felt like he was taking advantage of his position, and it seemed just wrong, Even if it wasn't like it never crossed his mind but it still was so random for it to show up right now, he couldn't even stop thinking about something so simple. Jack didn't need to look down to notice the stone hard boner he had right now.

 

...Oh shit he was in trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the long waits ;u; to be honest I went through an hospitalization at a clinic after a kind of traumatic experience I don't wanna talk about here to don't trigger anyone. Anyways, I was away at the clinic for a while but I'm back~ <3


	7. Mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “McCree, put that whisky canteen away. Hanzo, check if you have all your arrows, please. And Hana for God's sake get in the fucking meka.”
> 
> “Trust me.” was all that Hanzo said.

 

“Hi.”

“Agent.”

 

...Alright. You weren’t sure how it came to this, but you and 76 were just standing in front of each other awkwardly.  _ Very _ awkwardly. You were sure you had done your best to keep your crush a secret, so there is no way he was acting so weird because he found out about it, right? There is no way Hana would’ve told anyone else (maybe just Lúcio) so he just couldn’t know. But still, there you were, staring at each other without being able to even  _ start  _ a conversation. Usually he would comment something to break the ice between you two, like talk about practice, training, missions he had gone to, etc. Now he was simply… standing there.

Deciding this was way too uncomfortable and that you should really do something about it you tried to talk first.

 

“So…” You scratched the back of your neck. “I’m just on study duty today as well? No practical training?”

 

“No.” He went silent and so did you. ‘No’ what?! That barely answered the question! He wasn’t even trying at all! He surely knew something. You had to talk to Hana as soon as possible! Mumbling a quick ‘excuse me’ you walked past him and darted out to the corridor, looking around for your friend.

 

“Hey, Feneco. Everything okay?” You heard and looked around to find a worried looking blonde doctor. Angela had reached out to you when she saw you walking past her. You turned back with a forced smile.

 

“Great!” Damn it was ‘great’ enough? “Super!” Okay maybe you were over reacting now. “J-just nice.” Taking a deep breath you cursed yourself mentally a thousand times while you saw Angela giggle a little at your reaction.

 

“Looking for someone?” She asked as you looked around once more. “Soldier 76 was just down the hallway.” What?! What made her think you wanted to see  _ him _ ?! You stared at her with wide eyes, feeling your hands sweating already. That was it. Hana must have told everyone and they all made the connection. You were doomed. You were trash. You would never leave your room again. 

 

Angela must have noticed your surprised (or dying inside) reaction because she quickly added “Oh, I-I’ve just seen you two around together for studying and training lately so I thought you were talking about him. But uh, who is it you look for, dear?”

 

_ Relief.  _ That was all, she didn’t know about your crush. Good. “I’m looking for Hana.” You answered doing your best to remain calm. 

 

“Oh, she’s been on her room all day. She is making a ‘live’ or whatever that was.” You said a quick thank you before dashing out again. You had to find her, you had to make sure she hadn’t told anyone.

 

\----------------

 

“Hana!” The door was unlocked so you pretty much smashed it open. “We need to talk.”

 

Hana’s room was messy and filled with different video games, gamer stuff, references to games, and just… lots of games in general. But you noticed she also had a little vanity table filled with asiatic cosmetics. Huh. You spotted her on a computer facing away from you, and you noticed the camera she had set up in there. She quickly turned her head to see you from over her shoulder “ _ Excuse me _ ? Ever heard about knocking?” She must have seen that you looked scared and were panting from running over, because she blinked a few times before saying “You need to talk?”

 

You felt bad now for interrupting her but it was kinda too late now. “I really do.” You answered, shoulders dropping low and a sigh coming out of your lips. She turned back to her computer and clicked her mouse a few times.

 

“I’ll be back in a few, everyone! Thanks for your support so far! Kisses~” Hana stood up and turned the camera off, before clicking on her mouse a few more times. She then quickly walked her way to you and took your hands into hers before asking with a worried voice “What’s wrong, Neco?”

 

You looked behind and realized the door was still open, so you weakly asked “Can we talk in private?...”

 

“Of course! Go on, sit down!” She motioned to her bed and quickly worked her way to the door, in order to close it shut. You sat down on the bed as asked and just waited until she sat beside you as well. “Alright, tell me what’s wrong.”

 

“My crush.” She adjusted her sitting position as you said that, clearly waiting for more information. “Is acting really weird and awkward around me. I just thought...maybe you-”

 

“I haven't told anyone if that's what you’re thinking.” She looked deep in your eyes and took your hands into hers “We are friends, I'd never do that without your consent. I haven't even told Lúcio and you know how close we are.”

 

“Thanks.” You gave a long relieved  sigh putting your hand over your chest. “I was so paranoid he found out, I could barely try to talk more.”

 

“Oh so it's a ‘he’?” You blushed and cursed yourself for saying more than you should. “Anyways, I'm sure it's just your imagination. Maybe he just woke up on the wrong foot today.”

 

“Y-yea you are right.” You breathed out again and thanked the gods you had such a nice friend. She put her hair behind her ear and looked worriedly at you.

 

“By the way, where have you  _ been _ ? Me and Lúcio barely see you anymore because of this whole…” She shrugged “ _ Obsession _ with studying the old Overwatch.” 

 

You sighed “If only you studied a little bit more you’d get it. They had this amazing ideology about heroism and-”

 

“And they got destroyed.” She stated dead pan “You are idolizing these people too much.” Hana stood up and put a hand on her waist.

 

“Have you even  _ seen _ them?” you raised your arms in frustration “They were amazing heroes. Strike commander Morrison guided all agents and shaped them as a team...while looking like a total hottie.” You saw Hana trying to hold in a laugh and ended up laughing yourself. “Beat  _ that _ !”

 

“ _ Excuse me _ I’m the diva of this new Overwatch. Besides… he looked like just a fuckboi to me.” You both laughed and you threw a pillow at her.

 

\----------------

 

You were shaking. You weren't sure if it was fear or excitement. 

 

Winston had just assigned you for your first mission. You were walking your way to the ship that would guide you and your team there. You took a look at the documents on your hand while you walked. Your assigned team was: You, D.va, Shrike, Soldier: 76, McCree and Hanzo. 

 

  1. And he was even assigned as the mission’s leader. Great. As if you needed more awkwardness in your life. Taking a look over the team again you wondered if wouldn't it be better to have another support oriented agent in there? 



You hoped Shrike was as amazing as she seemed in training. 

 

Your back hurt from carrying your weapon there as a backpack along with some luggage, so you started walking a little bit faster to your destination. As you arrived to the port you looked around and saw all your teammates helping to carry cargo into the airship. You quickly made your way to some cargo outside and helped as well.

 

It wasn't long until you were all inside the ship with all the cargo. 76 looked around all of you before starting to talk “You’ve all read the mission’s report, right?” You nodded but he kept on anyway “We've been assigned to disassemble an omnic group that is dedicated to kill humans. Don't forget this is a mission- do not hesitate to kill.” You swallowed hard at that, and realized that it was mostly intended to you since all the other agents must be used to this situation. “They've been located around Ilios, so that's where we are headed to. It's a quiet part near the ruins, so no civilians should get involved.” 

 

After the speech was over the air became dense around you, but Hana and McCree were already talking to each other and telling jokes. Shrike and Hanzo seemed perfectly calm and you just kind of mentally kicked yourself for being so nervous. 

Slowly, 76 approached you and put a reassuring gloved hand on your shoulder. “It's okay to be nervous. Got all your inducers? Healing darts? Weapon?”

 

“Check, check, check. All in order, sir” No awkwardness this time and you felt  _ so _ thankful for that. You gave a long sigh trying to calm yourself down and he squeezed your shoulder a little. You turned to face him with a thankful smile, before he turned around and sat on a chair nearby.

 

Not wanting to be the only one standing you sat on on a bench with Hana, who was already changed into her blue uniform. “You should put on your uniform as well.” The advice didn't go to waste as you nodded and took your bag into a bathroom. Your uniform looked a bit like Hana’s but it wasn't as form fitting (and you were very thankful for that) and it was colored dark blue and bright orange. Along with it came the bracelet with your inducers which you placed a little under your right elbow and a pair of...headphones or something that sat over your head almost like ears. They had a few cables leading to your ears and you realized that was your communication device.

 

...Honestly, who came up with your uniform? Well, you couldn't complain. The fabric was so sturdy and advanced that bullets could ricochet from it. 

You left  the bathroom feeling a little apprehensive under the stares of 76 and Shrike’s full-faced masks. Sitting next to Hana made your nervousness disappear, though, since she sweetly took your hand into hers and squeezed it while mumbling “You'll be fine.”

 

\--------------------

 

He didn't mean to make things awkward but it was so difficult when he remembered what had happened.

The less he said the less it would make it bad for you, he thought. The way you simply walked past him in the morning, your shoulder bumping into his arm, silence following… he felt disappointed in himself. He was your superior and further most he had even became your friend and he shouldn't act so coldly around you. You didn't deserve it. And he didn't want it.

 

You were now on your first mission and your life depended on it, so he wanted to make it up to you. He had his share of missions, alright. He would give you all the attention you needed, help you through the hard patches like any commander should. Jack had sensed your nervousness from a mile away, you were almost trembling. He put his hand on your shoulder (not before hesitating to do so) and tried to reassure you. You talked, but still seemed very nervous, so he softly squeezed your shoulder and you gave him the warmest thankful smile he had ever seen on your face. Usually you would give him a small playful smile or a little angry pout, but the look of that warm smile on your face was priceless. He quickly decided to sit down nearby before he said anything stupid. 

 

Later you showed up dressed in your uniform and he needed to take a deep breath. You looked really good in it and even if it wasn't too form fitting he could definitely see your curves. That shouldn't  phase him, damn it. But the mental image from before was still on his mind, and he had to think of a billion anti erotic thoughts so that he didn't get a fucking boner again. Oh the perks of having a penis. Still, more than anything, he saw you romantically. He wanted you. And it was so wrong and you'd never accept an old dog like him. Keeping his desire to himself was the only thing he could do right now.

 

\----------------

 

You were all outside the airship now, and 76 was checking if everything was in order.

 

“McCree, put that whisky canteen away. Hanzo, check if you have all your arrows, please. And Hana for God's sake get in the fucking meka.” You watched as Hana mumbled a soft ‘yes,  _ dad _ ’ and suddenly your crush couldn't feel any dirtier. Ok, you  _ didn't _ need that right now.

 

“I was thinking… shouldn't we have got another support oriented agent here? And we got both Shrike and Hanzo as snipers… wouldn't it be better for Hanzo to change places with, I don't know, Lúcio?” Hana’s voice sounded from inside her Meka and you jumped slightly in agreement.

 

“I was thinking about that too!” you announced then turned to 76 waiting for his opinion. 

 

“Well now it's too late for any changes.” He replied with a hand on his hip, probably annoyed at how you all didn't question him about it before if it was bothering you. 76 then looked over at Hanzo “What do you think?”

 

“I need to restore my honor. I can be of great assistance.” He said simply and shortly and you hoped you weren't sounding rude about the subject. It's not like you thought he wasn't good enough for the mission, it's just that the team seemed unbalanced that way.

 

“You sure?” 76 Asked with a stern voice, and you trembled a bit. Damn it crush,  _ behave _ . You didn't need that now. 

 

“Trust me.” was all that Hanzo said.

 

\------------------

 

You shouldn't have trusted him. 

 

Your team had unintentionally split while the fighting began, and you were pretty sure Shrike wasn't handling healing all your teammates. Thankfully you had your own healing darts and 76 had his biotic fields. Those took the work off her shoulders a bit. 

You were just blocking attacks and pushing enemy Ominics off to far from your teammates, making sure that 76 had enough room and protection to take them out. And he did, while you didn't have the responsibility of killing any Ominics yourself. You mentally noted to thank him later. From time to time you'd see arrows hitting the Ominics straight into their heads, as they fell down to their death or heard six consequent shots being fired by McCree’s pacifier. Shrike was focused on healing you all, so you could only see the healing darts as they landed on someone and no actual rifle shots. 

 

Suddenly you felt an immense pressure on your chest. Looking down you realized you had been shot but your uniform took the damage and not your body, thankfully. Say what you want, the fact that Overwatch’s technology was amazing was undeniable.

Not long after a few other shots landed on you and it was hard to take the pressure. You swinged your chainsaw, and one of the robots was cut in half, with the cut sterilized by the laser on your weapon. You stared wide eyed for a few seconds that seemed like an eternity before 76 pushed you back. You both went to a corner and he put a biotic field on the floor as you healed. 

 

“It's okay, I can handle them. Protect yourself and come back to the fight when you feel ready.” He said very quickly between shots and dashed out of the corner and back into the open field. He probably noticed your reaction to your kill. Even If it was an Omnic, did he deserve to die like that? What sort of fool were you, playing God deciding who lived and who died? 

 

But looking out at the scene you could see all your teammates doing their very best and even if Hana was now tanking alone she was doing great. You finally spotted Hanzo climbing up some ruins and shooting arrows as fast as he could. He was doing his best, yeah, maybe trusting him wasn't so bad. McCree wasn't too far away from him, his head shots as precise as Hanzo’s. 

76 was handling the fight with such ease and perfection that it made you wonder how long has he been doing this. He also ran. Fast. Faster than you thought a human could, but he did. He dodged bullets like it was nothing. Just who the hell does that? Especially someone old like him. 

Suddenly a weird creepy voice echoed from all around you, and looking around you saw a creepy looking figure, dressed all in black and wearing some sort of mask. It was too fast to really decipher it because as soon as he was there he wasn't anymore, only black smoke on his place.

_ “We got Reaper here.”  _ You heard Shrike’s voice sounding in your comm device  _ “Repeat: Reaper here. Watch your backs”   _ Reaper? Just what was a Reaper? You heard 76 giving a visible annoyed grunt in your comm. 

You were done healing and ready to go back into the fight when you felt a shiver down your spine and coldness coming from behind you, and before you knew it you were hit in the back of the head and blacked out.

 

 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ayyyy im tring my best but fuck that grammar
> 
> I just hope this isnt too boring to read. I guess it's fine, since it's my first fanfic anyways 8'D  
> orz  
> c-comment suggestions and criticism if you'd like?


	8. Bait

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Why the curiosity?”  
> “Guess I wanna know more about the guy who is sparing my life.”

You woke up to the sound of heavy steps on the ground. Everything was dark around you, and there was something on your mouth - maybe a tape, you figured - preventing you from parting your lips or saying any words. Trying to move you found out your ankles and wrists had been tied. Well, shit.

Maybe someone was around to help? Maybe, so you started moving around to what you realized was some sort of sack you were inside and mumbled some weird sounds to catch someone's attention.

 

And you did, you realized, as soon as someone kicked you from outside. You winced in pain, but wished you were able to throw them a couple of well phrased curses. Okay, you know what? You are not going to just lay low and not do anything, so you moved around once more, being even noisier this time, and the kick came twice as strong now, along with a voice.

“Quiet.” You heard a creepy and somewhat taffy voice. Well someone must have got a really edgy voice modifier or something. Wait, that sounded like the laugh from before, from the Reaper person!

You moved around to catch his attention and muffled a long “Hmmmpf!” that was only cut off when you felt his foot kicking again, this time making you roll around the sack. You were on your knees now, you realized. Honestly, as stubborn as you were, getting kicked wasn't so fun so you simply mumbled another “Hmpf…” much quieter this time.

 

Suddenly the blackness was gone with the sound of the cloth sack being opened and your eyes had to adjust to the light outside. You were met with a bone white mask of a skul- uh maybe it was a barn owl actually? You looked up to Reaper with a very determined expression to which he did not answer.

You tried to loosen your binds by moving your arms around, never breaking eye contact with the mask’s black holes that seemed to be eyes.

He pulled a black shotgun from inside his coat and aimed it at your head.

 

“I don't need you alive.” You kept glaring even with the threat but there was a little part inside of you that was shitting her pants right now. “Stop making this so annoying.” Wow what a complete asshole. He quickly booped your forehead with the very tip of the gun. Was he having fun with you? “¿Entendido?”

You stared and received a long sigh as response.

 

Your eyes darted around finally taking in the sight of where you were. It was like some old port, walls covered in metal and many metal boxes lying around that could totally be used as cover. Remembering your lessons with 76 you began looking around for an exit. Okay, there was a door up at the catwalks, one in the left wall, one in-

Wait, where those your comm devices? They were blinking as if emitting a help signal. Have they been there for long? Suddenly you realized with wide open eyes: you were _bait_.

 

A shiver went through your spine as Reaper darkly chuckled noticing your realization. His laugh echoed and rumbled through the place and he walked over to the metal box with your comm devices on top of it. “Guess I don't need these anymore.” He announced coldly before shooting them to pieces. You made whine like sounds at his action and he turned to you. 76 had trained you for many things, including the ‘ _I can't see his facial expression’_ thing, but Reaper sure made you want to rip the mask outta his face.

He pointed the gun at you again. A long wait occurred and you briefly wondered if this was how you were going to die. Then he simply put the gun away once more.

 

Okay…you decided not to test his good will too much and simply looked the other way, ignoring him. He sat on a metal box in front of you, and you spent a long while like that. Alright, that was good and all but you needed answers. You made a “Hmn” sound, not for yelling but if asking permission to talk.

He ignored. You repeated the sound.

The dark figure sighed once more but stood up and walked his way to you. He simply studied you for a while before crouching down to your level, his legs wide open and an arm resting on a knee. In a swift movement he removed the tape from your mouth, but before you could react to any pain he raised your head by holding your chin with disdain and ordered “Speak.”

You lost your will to, to be honest. Or your courage. He was keeping his ground, always showing you how inferior you were to him right now, and that pissed you off along with slightly scaring you.

 

“Why use me as bait?” Your voice trembled and you wondered if he realized the hesitation in it.

 

“To attract someone.” He answered so coldly and darkly you felt as if your stomach was turning inside you.

 

“Who?” Your lower lip trembled and you were sure he had noticed it. His dark chuckle echoed once more and you could almost feel his amusement.

 

“Worried about your commander, _zorrita_?” He hastily let go of your chin so quickly your whole head bobbed with the movement “Why don't you let the grown ups have some alone time to talk?” What a complete jerk. You weren't gonna go anywhere with this guy like this. Changing your tatic you decided to ignore him.

 

“Why the mask?” Answering his question with another so suddenly made you see him tense up. A few moments passed where you simply stared into the mask in front of you. You couldn't see anything but complete darkness on the holes were his eyes were supposed to be behind.

 

“It's my curse.” He replied, and if you were not mistaken there was a tinge sadness on it. “Why the curiosity?”

 

You shrugged. “Guess I wanna know more about the guy who is sparing my life.”

 

“For now.” He explained plainly “I'll kill you just as he reaches you.”

 

You really didn't catch that. Why would he wait? Why not just kill you right then? Was he actually found of your company? Or did he expect 76 to have some reaction to his plan?

 

“Why just then?” You risked, feeling a little braver “Why not just now?”

 

You bravery was soon shaken as his laugh echoed through the room, a strong rumble coming from deep within his chest, before a fist was put around your neck, holding tight but not breaking your air passage. “You want to die so bad, _zorrita_? I can arrange that.”

 

“I want to _understand_.” Your voice sounded slightly coarse from his chocking hand.

 

As quickly as it grabbed your neck, the hand was gone, his mask stared deeply at you for a few moments before he stood up again.

 

“Overwatch is a fucking disease, that's all you need to understand.” You furrowed your brows at that without realizing.

 

“Overwatch did great things! And we can do it again! All their hard work can't be for nothing!” You almost shouted, forgetting your current situation, and feeling insulted by him. Not just you, but he was also insulting your current friends and your idols from the past.

 

“It **is**. Get used to it. Overwatch was nothing but treachery. It's gone and it should keep that way, like all those who were a part of it.” Reaper turned his back to you, not even paying attention to your face anymore and you exploded.

 

“That's a **lie** .” You spat “Morrison, Reyes and Amari were fucking **heroes**.”

 

You saw his back tensing up. A long silence few between you two and you could feel the tension, as well as your own heartbeat. While he was looking away your fingers were trying to free your restrained arms behind you back. You were doing pretty good, until you heard his voice again and stopped.

 

“Heroes don't exist. You don't know anything.” He looked at you from over his shoulder, voice stern.

 

“I **know** everything!” You barked back “I've studied every little detail, every archive, every-” You were cut off by reaper turning around and pointing both of his shotguns to your direction. You knew you were walking a thin line, but he kept showing hesitation and that urged you to go on. “I did my homework, and I can show you-”

 

The man threw both of his shotguns to his sides as if they were nothing and walked your way before crouching again really close to you and now looking at you from the same mask to eye level.

Reaper raised his hand and you thought for a second that he was going to hit you, but he brought it to the side of the mask, taking it off.

 

Nothing could have prepared you for that. Your body curved, trying to get away from the awful vision. It literally was just so scary you felt small drops of tears forming on the edge of your eyes. That wasn’t just a scary face, and more than anything you recognized that whatever was left of a man there was the person you came to admire so much in the last month: Gabriel Reyes.

“Y-you’re…” You mumbled, trembling and still trying to get away from his face.

 

“Overwatch did this to me.” He put the mask back, and you finally untensed your body and allowed yourself to stop trying to get away. “Overwatch left Ana Amari to die. Get that in your little head: Overwatch was a mistake, then good riddance.”

 

“You can’t be Reyes!” You barked right at his mask, suddenly feeling betrayed somehow, by someone. “Reyes is dead!”

 

“Do I _look_ alive?” He asked in sarcasm. You were left to just stand there and take all the information in, mouth agape and eyes watery.

 

“You were my hero…” you mumbled and he shook his head at that.

 

“Heroes don’t exist. And that was Gabriel. I am Reaper now.” the masked man replied coldly, and you felt like crying, you could barely understand why.

 

“You’ll always be Gabriel to me.” He seemed to flinch at that but you gave him no time to react before talking again “Is that what you want? Revenge on Overwatch?”

 

Re- no, Gabriel stood up and nodded. A long silence passed, and you had a deep wish to understand what he was now. What he had become. A small question bubbled on your mind but thinking about it made your heart race and lips trembled as you put it into words. “C-can I touch it?”

 

A really awkward silence followed and you felt your arms and legs cold from nervousness. Finally, he turned to you and asked with an angry voice. “ _What?_ ”

 

You felt as if it was more of a rhetorical question but answered anyways. “Your face.”

 

“No.” Was the reply barely after you had stopped talking.

 

“Why is it like that?” You risked asking, just too engulfed into the situation.

 

“I can’t die.” He said curtly. “That’s probably all information you need to understand.”

 

“What happened to you, Mr. Reyes?” Your voice was still weak from the shock, you could barely remember your bindings now. Your hands were almost free, but you wanted so much to understand what happened, you didn’t act.

 

“ _Don’t_ call me that.” Suddenly a sound. Something like footsteps. You and Gabriel looked around to find it’s source. While he was distracted you finally untied  your hands.

 

It seemed to be just what 76 was expecting because he left his cover and risked a few shots at Gabriel, who laughed darkly and took his two shotguns again and shot back as 76 ran for another cover. You worked quickly to undo the ties on your ankles and tried to stand up, but Gabriel was faster and grabbed you by your hair, pulling you back while he talked loud enough for 76 to hear. “You stay here.” he pointed the shotgun on his right hand to your head and you did as told. “I bet her soul is a great snack.” What the fuck? You had to remind yourself that even though that monstrosity would always be Gabriel to you, he no longer acted as such. He wanted to be Reaper now, and you would see him as such. At least for now.

 

Suddenly three pulse grenades were shot at Reaper who went backwards a few meters with the impact, letting go of your hair and giving you a breach. You ran as fast as you could to a cover near where the grenades came from. You put your back against the big metal box and kneeled. You were panting hard by now, and when you looked to your right side you were met with the amazing sight of 76, right next to you. Damn, was it good to see him, and you sighed in relief.

 

“We’ll talk later.” Was all he whispered to you before changing places with you to try to check on Reaper by the corner of the box. Shit, where you gonna get lectured later? “Your weapon.” He whispered again, motioning backwards with his head.

The sight of your chainsaw by the ground was like a beautiful oasis in the middle of a desert of old masked men and crossfire. You almost cried while picking it up. Your relief didn’t last long, though.

“Come out to play, Jack!” Reaper’s voice echoed around the old port.

 

 

Realization dawned upon you as the name was called out.

 

 

You turned to 76 with eyes wide open, your expression of someone who really wanted some questions answered. He simply gave a robotized soft sigh. You opened your mouth to speak but he raised a finger in front of you, ordering silence. He wasn’t even looking at your direction, still staring over his shoulder to see where Reaper was. Jerk.

 

Okay, now wasn’t the best time to talk about that, but some assurance would be nice. A nod, the shake of his head, anything but ignoring you would do. You tried to ignore how the pieces had been getting together in the last months. Of course it was him. The super fast reflexes, agility, strength… You had wondered before if they were like your strength enhancements. You kind of wanted to ask if his face was deformed and dead like Reaper’s but the thought perished as you heard his voice once more.

 

“Come on, _zorrita_. Do you need daddy’s permission to fight me?” This time 76 put his arm in front of you, trying to hold you back. You could almost bark in anger at that. Shoving his arm away you ran from your cover, raising your chainsaw and shooting Reaper in the chest, aiming like Shrike had taught you.

Nothing. Not a single scratch. Bosta.

 

His grim laughter echoed, as he slowly walked his way to you, guns raised and firing, one at a time.

You’ve studied him before. Well, you studied Gabriel before. His speciality was fighting at close range, but so was yours. You used your chainsaw to deflect the bullets, but one hit you right in the waist, above your bandolier. You felt the impact and once again thanked for Overwatch’s uniform technology.

 

The sound of a rifle going off and Reaper taking the impact while grunting in pain made you look over at 76’s position and take in the sight of him in all his anger, shooting at the masked monstrosity. Reaper did his best to ignore it and kept shooting you, though.

You were sure that if you hadn’t gone through Undertaking’s enhancement experiment back at the Cativeiro you’d be either dead or very hurt by now. Taking a few steps back you hurridly injected yourself a healing dart, your eyes leaving the combat. It seemed that was exactly the breach Reaper was waiting for, as he quickly turned his attention to 76.

 

76 was running towards you, but stopped on his tracks as soon as Reaper started shooting his way. He dodged the bullets like wind itself, and you were reminded of his enhanced reflexes. The edge lord walked his way still shooting, and you panicked. You needed to protect your commander and you needed to do it now. Instincts came over and you quickly tapped an inducer’s button.

Your feet almost moved by themselves as you ran to Reaper, raising your chainsaw and slashing a quick movement across his back. The wounded area seemed to turn into black smoke, but he flinched hard at that.

 

You weren’t expecting him to turn around and punch you so hard you ended up a few meters away. “I always knew you had a thing for young ones, but isn’t this a little over the line, Jack?”

Honestly, you cursed yourself for blushing over at the meaningless teasing from Reaper. You couldn’t see his expression as always, but 76 was still standing, hands in gun pressed hard. You were tired of Reaper underestimating you, and something came over you as you ran up quickly and slashed at his side.

 

His arm was cut off.

Your eyes were wide open as you stared at it noticing how the part of the cut was simply black smoke inside. Reaper turned his body to your direction, gave a deep sigh and cracked his neck tilting it. Only one thought went through your mind at the time: you were _so_ fucked.

 

It was a surprise when 76 was so suddenly next to you as he took advantage of Reaper’s reaction. He activated a biotic field and you realized you had the upper hand now. No pun intended.

Two versus one was a terrible idea, especially when you are lacking one arm and you were sure he knew it. You were attacking each other at close range, and you couldn’t help but freeze when a bullet from Reaper’s shotgun hit you in the stomach.

 

It hurt. It hurt like hell. It didn’t penetrate your body but was strong enough to damage your uniform. But then Reaper’s shotgun landed a shot right at 76’s visor, and your world stopped.

 

First you feared for his life. Your heart felt like skipping beats when the thought of him dying came into mind. All less than one second you were reminded of all your moments spent with him, from lectures to a stupid picture and to the chuckles he so rarely gave.

Then you realized the bullet had only scratched the left side of his visor and broke the red lens into cracks that fell off. You didn’t have time to be relieved, though, because you saw something that made your blood feel like lava inside of you.

 

Strike Commander Jack Morrison’s blue eye.

 

You no longer saw a vigilante by your side: that was Jack, who sold his life away for a dream of heroism and justice. Who you admired so much in the last month, who made you believe that Overwatch could still be a good thing. Something inside you ignited a fire you never knew you had before.

 

Quickly you tapped **_all_ ** of your inducers. Bright blue veins were visible all over your body, from the sides of your face to your entire arms, as the liquid started working it’s way into your whole system. You heard a loud beeping from some device in your uniform and the muffled voice of a very angry Jack Morrison shouting something at you.

You moved by instincts, slashing at Reaper over and over again, from different directions. You were pushing him back, away from your commander.

 

Suddenly, one slash seemed too strong and you watched with blurry eyes as Reaper fell to the ground, cut in half by the waist. You dropped your weapon to the side of your body, taking in deep breaths, as your vision adjusted. Turning back you saw your commander, with his one eye showing up filled with something you couldn’t decipher. Sadness? Pity? Fear? All you knew was that you felt like a kid being caught doing something bad.

 

When you looked down back to Gabriel, you saw everything dissipating into black smoke, from his severed arm to the white bone mask.

Your hearing felt muffled, but you could make out a few words 76 was saying. “ _Not over… Need to go… Before he…_ ” You fell on your knees and brought your hands around your neck. A sharp pain went through your body, a pain like you never felt before.

No, that was a lie. You felt that before, alright, back at the Cativeiros. You shouted as hard as you could, even if that didn’t seem much at the moment considering how fuzzy you were feeling. The world around you moved like ripples in water, and you felt nausea.

Suddenly a blue eye was in front of you, 76 pressing with care a hand against your mouth, trying to silence you as possible.

 

You had done it! You saved 76, did your best to be a main threat and took it for as long as you could while being in your designed rank of a tank. Once again, the words of 76 reached your brain in muffled murmurs _. “...Got you… Angela... Hang in… kiddo.”_

You unconsciously raised a hand to his shoulder and squeezed it with care before blacking out.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyyyy so I tried keeping Reaper's appearance ambiguous, cause everyone has their own headcanon of how he looks and stuff ;3; I wasn't sure if I should go with a set appearance or just keep it this way. What is you guy's headcanons for how Reaper looks under the mask, by the way?
> 
> Also, translation time!  
> ¿Entendido?: Understood?  
> Bosta: shit  
> Zorrita: correct my spanish if i'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure it means 'little fox', and also has a bad connotation to it, it can be understood as 'little bitch' or something


	9. Scars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “We need to talk.”  
> “There is nothing to talk about.”

“I got you.” Jack said while holding you close, one hand in front of your mouth. He took the hand away, pressing some button on his visor. “Angela, come in. I need support.” He looked back at you, heart racing and hands sweating inside the leather gloves “Hang in there, kiddo.”

 

Your response was an affectionate shoulder squeeze just like the one he had given you before the mission, and eyes shutting. Thankfully, Angela picked up just at the right time, because he was growing desperate. “ _ Angela here. I've just received signals from Feneco. How many inducers did she take?” _

 

“All of them.” He said, holding you closer to himself and taking your weapon from the ground. His eyes turned to the black smoke that was Reaper, quickly reforming itself. He had to get out of there. He had to take you out of there. “She went out like a light.”

 

Angela clicked her tongue before going on “ _ That's obvious. I especifically told her not to abuse the inducers.”  _ He could hear her going through files.  _ “It's a normal reaction. She should be sleepy or groggy, but I believe passing out it's probably just an extended symptom.”  _

 

Jack had no time. He threw you over his shoulder and took your chainsaw with his right hand, standing up and running to the exit. If all went fine his teammates should be arriving on airship soon to rescue you both. “She screamed. She was in pain.” 

 

“ _ Hmm… Must be the memory of the pain she felt being imprisoned.”  _ He heard while still exiting the place  _ “It’s something called ‘body memory’. The feeling of strength is the same as she felt back then, when they used pain to have it work. So she automatically remembers the pain.”  _ It made sense. A long time ago when he had first found you, Jack saw you wearing some sort of collar that hurt you in order to control you, and just now you brought your hands to your neck, even though there was nothing there. 

 

He was finally out of the port, still carrying you and your weapon, along with his. It was heavy, he was surprised he managed it. “She's going to be okay, then?”

 

_ “Yes. Just bring her to the airship, I can take a look at her when you are back, just for sure.”  _ Oh, damn how relieved he was to hear that. He thought for a moment his old heart wouldn't be able to take it. 

 

Sighing he mumbled “I'm too old for this…” And heard Angela trying to hold back a laugh on the other side of the line, while seeing the airship in the distance getting closer to them.

 

\-------------

 

 

You woke up with a warm feeling. 

Looking around you realized you were back at the infirmary of Doctor Ziegler. There was nothing on you his time: no bandages, no needles, nothing.  You tried to remember what had last happened but your mind was blank. Just as you realized this, Angela entered the room and stared at you with a surprised expression.

 

“Feneco! Look at you, all awaken.” She smiled warmly and you sat up in the bed, smiling slightly back. “How are you feeling?”

 

“All good. My memory is still a bit fuzzy though…” She no need at that, getting closer to you. 

 

“It's normal, I can fill you in though.” You stood up from the bed and she reached for a few clothes in a nearby chair, then offered them to you and only then you realized you were still in your uniform. “You were kidnapped by Reaper, who asked 76 to come get you alone in a port. Whatever happened in there made you take all your inducers and pass out. 76 managed to bring you back though.”

 

Oh. That's right. It all came back to you now. You also had found out 76 was actually Jack Morrison who was supposed to be dead. Or something. You clearly had to have a talk with him later, as things were just piling up like a snowball. “I remember now. Thanks, doc.”

 

She smiled sweetly at that “Any time! Since everything is good, maybe you should change your clothes and talk to your colleagues. I’m sure they can give you more info than I on the mission.” She motioned to a nearby door. “Feel free to take a shower if you want as well. You can leave the uniform here, I’ll have it patched up by someone.”

 

“Ah, that would be just perfect. Thanks.” She nodded and took her leave. You entered the door she showed you and were met with a tiny bathroom, modern but small. 

Looking at the mirror hanging on the wall you saw it: a big black and blue spot right into your right cheek. You raised your hand to touch the hematoma and realized it was still sore and hurt to the contact. That’s right, Reaper had punched you back in the fight. Or Gabriel. Still, it was just a hematoma. If he had the strength enhancers from the perfect soldier project thing, wouldn’t he be able to just smash your skull? Maybe he was holding back for some reason or maybe that’s not how it worked. You could never know with that guy. 

 

You took your uniform off and headed to the shower. The water was cold at first so you waited outside hugging yourself to protect you against the cold. As you did so, a small tinge of pain went through your stomach. You took your arms away and saw another black and blue spot there. Ah, that’s from the shot that damaged your uniform. Good times.

Finally entering the shower, the water was warm now, gracing you with comfort. You let it rinse your hair locks, massaging your scalp while doing so. When you were but a prisoner you had to maintain a short hair, and two long locks of hair in the front to quickly identify you as female. Now, almost a year later, you had received the choice to keep your hair as you’d prefer, yet you kept it the same way, if only longer. Maybe it was just some sort of weird reaction but you felt as if you should not change it.

Maybe you were just afraid of the change.

 

\------------------

 

You left the uniform where Angela asked you to and left the room. 

Finding someone to talk to was your priority right now, and who would be better than your best friend in Overwatch? Looking around for Hana, you walked quickly between the corridors, barely taking notice of the few stares you got for your bruised face. 

 

You had to take in all information you had received but it felt like your brain didn’t want to work. Reyes blamed Overwatch for what he had become, so your faith in it was a little shaken up. You weren’t sure what to think about it, but this was a new Overwatch with different members, right? Well, kind of. Considering if 76 was indeed Morrison, he was another old member to come back. 

Your brain was a mess. It was so much to take in and understand. 

 

“Hey, Feneco. How did the mission go?” You turned around and saw Genji, who tensed up slightly when he saw your face. “Woah.”

 

“Yea.” You replied, unconsciously bringing a hand up to cover your bruise. “But it went fine. I guess.”

 

He lightly shrugged “My first mission was total chaos. You did well, trust me.” With the mention of his first mission you remembered your studies on the old Overwatch.

 

“You were a part of the Blackwatch, right?” He tilted his head. “Can you tell me how commander Reyes actually was like? I mean, studying is one thing, but hearing from someone who knew him…” You hoped for your own good that he wasn’t going to think it was a weird question.

 

“Well…” Genji crossed his arms and brought one hand to his chin - or where it should be, because of his helmet - thinking deeply. “There is not much to tell. He was a person to get things done. He wasn’t ‘heroic’ in the least, but he was cunning and ambitious. He also was persuasive, and would do whatever was needed to get something done.” Persuasive. The word stuck to your mind. He  _ did  _ make your faith in Overwatch unstable. “Don’t get too attached to the past though, Fe. We need to learn from it and move on.”

 

You nodded, even if you knew that past was catching up to you. “Yeah, you are right. Thanks Genji.” You smiled softly.

 

“It is no problem. And hey, your face does not look that bad. Trust me, could be worse.” He said, motioning to all of him, and you realized you were still hiding your bruise.

 

“You are not that bad either, Shimada.” You said with a smirk, finally unhiding your bruise and shaking your head. “Thanks again.”

 

Back to walking, you crossed corridors and rooms before heading to the cafeteria, where you spotted Hana drinking some warm beverage with Lúcio on a table near the window. You quickly made your way to them and as soon as Hana spotted you she dropped her drink back in the table and stood up, arms open wide.

 

“Feneco!” She called out, then quickly hugged you “So good to see you awake. How are you feeling?” Hana sat back and tapped the seat on her side, asking you to join them.

 

“We’ve been hella worried with you, baixinha.” Lúcio smiled as you took a seat with them. “Doctor Ziegler said it was no big deal but we got worried anyway.”

 

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” You waved it off, rolling your eyes. “I’m just still with a fuzzy memory.” You turned to Hana, a hand holding your chin while you rested your elbow on the table. “Care to fill me in?”

 

“You got distracted and kidnaped, old fart saved you, we brought you back to safety.” She looked incredulously at you. “Honestly,  _ you  _ are the one who should be filling me in. What the hell happened?”

 

You felt your hands sweating. You didn’t want to lie to Hana and Lúcio, but you couldn’t tell them the things you had found out. You were barely sure if what you discovered was really the truth so keeping it from them seemed like the most sane idea. “Honestly, I don’t remember much.” You blatantly lied. How could you forget the look on 76’s eye, the monstrosity of Reyes’s face, the fire you felt inside yourself before using all your inducers? “Just what happened while I was out?”

 

“Oh, well…” Hana scratched her forehead, trying to remember. “Soldier 76 brought you into the airship. He and Shrike were looking kinda...weird. Like they were nervous or something.” She shook her head. “I guess they were just worried sick about you. 76 kept holding you the whole way back.” She gave you a small smile “I think he felt responsible for...You know.” You were reminded of the bruise on your cheek once again. “Don't give that old man a heart attack, okay?”

 

Oh damn. You asked all gods you knew that you _please_ weren't  blushing. From the way Hana said it, she didn't even recognize the possibility of 76 being your crush; which you had talked about before. But it was hard to keep your heart still at that info. 76 calling you “kiddo”, being an ass about training, underestimating you and just acting strict and stoic around you made you think he didn't care that much about you. And just now hearing how worried he was made you melt even if just a little. 

 

Wait. Maybe he was just worried about you letting out the secret you found out. Maybe he was just trying to make sure you kept quiet. Shit, there goes the melting. You had to know. You had to actually talk  to him.

 

“I should thank him” You say getting up from your seat, though thanking him was the least of your concerns.

 

“Alright, Neco. We’ll be here for a while if you wanna talk some more.” Lúcio replied, taking a sip of his drink. 

 

“Oh, and by the way: the mission was considered a success. We disbanded that Omnic group.” Hana chipped in with a small excited little jump on her seat.

 

“Well, I’m glad  _ something _ went as intended.” You nodded and walked away, determined to find 76.

 

\------------------

 

You were arriving the training grounds when you walked past the men’s locker room and heard someone aggressively shutting a locker. You pondered for a moment if you should go inside (what if you catch someone in the middle of changing clothes?) and decided for best that you should wait by the door.

 

After some fidgeting inside, the owner of all those noises finally came into view and you cursed how he was wearing his leather jacket open, showing off the tight black shirt underneath. You stared at 76 with a determined expression, almost angry. “We need to talk.”

 

He gave you no mind, and walked past you. “There is nothing to talk about.”  _ Oh, really?  _ You wondered for a moment how to go on, but he was already away from the door, turning his back on you.

 

Angrily you reached out and pulled his sleeve. He stopped at that, and you felt your first triumph since arriving. “You  _ can’t  _ pretend I don’t know anything.” You bit your lower lip, wondering how to go on. “I  _ need _ answers.”

 

He looked at you from over his shoulder, that stupid visor on the way between you and his facial expressions again and you cursed him for wearing it. You let go of his sleeve and he turned back again, a hand running through his gray hair. You simply stared for a few seconds before he totally turned his body to your direction. “What?” 

 

“ _ ‘What’ _ ? Maybe we should start by the basics?” You raised your hands in exasperation. “Are you really…” You tried to finish the sentence but the words got stuck in your dry mouth.

 

He stoically answered after a few moments. “...Yes.” You simply stood there not even sure how to go on after that. Holy shit, all you knew was wrong. How was that even possible? He seemed to realize your inner struggle and went on. “I’m just a soldier now, like all of us. Those times are gone.”

 

You remained silent for a few seconds before going on “Who knows?” you asked defensively, still having a hard time taking all that in.

 

“Winston, Shrike, Lena, McCree, Angela, Reinhardt and Fareeha.” He answered curtly. “Lena, McCree and Angela just kind of recognized me after a while.” You raised your hands to your head. All those people? Suddenly you felt so left out.

 

“So… Mei, Genji, Hanzo, Hana, Lúcio, Torb, and  **all** the rest of the agents...” You lowered your hands, and looked at him once more, a slight desperation in your facial expression “They just  _ don’t know _ ?” He nodded. Holy shit. “What about Reyes?”

 

76 Seemed to flinch at that. “Winston, Shrike, myself.” He crossed his arms and you could imagine he had a questioning look on his face. “And now you, apparently. How?”

Oh, so he was the one questioning now. Finally you felt like you had the upper hand. “He showed me.” You crossed your arms as well, imitating his stance. “He said a lot of things about Overwatch.”

 

“Did he now?” 76 Approached you and lifted his hand to your right shoulder. “Don’t trust a word about what he says.” His voice was stern, serious and worried. You couldn’t help but furrow your brows. 

 

“Funny, he seemed... not wrong.” you kept in a defensive position. “If he was right, you’d probably say that as well.”

 

His grip on your shoulder faltered. “Overwatch was destroyed from inside out. And if it is any comforting for you to know, I think this whole idea of making Overwatch again a waste of time.” Suddenly the gloved hand was away from your shoulder “But I’m here now so I gotta make it worth my while.” So many things kept going through your mind, you could barely focus in one only. You wondered why he was there after all, what made him lose his faith in Overwatch so bad, how the hell he survived the blast… He didn’t seem like he wanted to be questioned though.”That’s all?”

 

“Can I tell anyone?” Was the first question that popped up on your mind, imagining keeping this from Hana felt so wrong. You’ve been telling each other everything for a while now, she was your best friend in there.

 

“No.” Was the short answer, filled with strictness and no explanation. Your hands turned into fists and you felt your neck muscles tensing up.

 

“But what about-” suddenly he was much closer to you, more than you could ever be comfortable with, slouching down slightly to your eye level. You could feel the same scent you felt times ago, when you took that picture. It was masculine and clean, but intoxicating. He probably had just come out of the lockers after a shower.

 

“I said  _ no _ .” the wheezing from his mask was audible, you could hear his breath hitching for some reason. He was so close, there was probably one palm of distance between your faces, but as soon as he was there he went back to his other position, further away and towering over you. “Anything else?” 

 

“Oh shit.” You said as realization hit your brain like a truck as soon as the ‘crush indulged’ thoughts went through your mind after his closeness “I told you I would’ve.... done you.” The words came out of your mouth before you could think about them, and you looked at him with an apologizing expression “I’m so sorry, that’s so-”

 

He raised a hand in front of you, asking for silence. “It’s fine. It’s actually refreshing to see how Hana’s sincerity has been rubbing off on you. Besides... If you only knew how many proposals like that I had to refuse back in those days…” a small robotized chuckle came out of his mask, and you wished you could hear it a thousand times.

 

“Well, I bet it’s not that different now.” Your mouth moved without you realizing and you said the words before understanding the implications they had.

 

...did you just... flirt with him?

 

Oh my god.

 

The most awkward of the silences followed, and you wished you were a  ostrich to stick your head under the ground and never come out. Your face was probably completely red at this point, and you smiled in nervousness.  He simply stood there, while you waited for an answer he wouldn’t give. Deciding it was way too awkward to insist you tried to bail out.

 

“W-well I gotta go!” you announced, cursing how your voice broke. “We’ll talk m-more later.” 76 Nodded and you quickly made your way back to the corridors, hiding your face in your hands.

 

\------------

 

Had you just… flirted with him?

 

Jack could feel heat coming up to his face and coughed in a ridiculous attempt to maintain his posture. You couldn't. You wouldn't. You probably realized that sounded like flirting and got embarrassed because it was not what you meant. Still, a silly part of him was hung over your words. You had never seen how his face currently looked, but had you wondered about it? 

 

The thought of you wondering if he was attractive was somehow… enticing to him. He had never imagined that he stirred up curiosity within you. 

 

Jack shook his head lightly, and tried to focus on whatever was more important right then. Gabriel had showed his true identity to you. Why was that? He had made you become defensive about Overwatch, actually maybe even trusting his words. Why would he be out for you so bad? Jack understood that Reaper must have seen how protective of you he had been in battle and that's what made him use  _ you _ of all people as bait. But what made him try to make you leave Overwatch? 

 

If nothing, Jack could assume that Gabriel was simply trying to take someone he trusts away from him. When they had met with Ana for the first time, Gabriel did say things like ‘Overwatch did this to me’, as Jack heard. Was it being the same thing now with you?

 

Jack turned back to the way of his room, still filled with thoughts on his mind. Thinking about you trusting Gabriel of all people gave him a sharp pain on the chest. He wasn’t sure what it was, but he didn’t like it. He had seen you change so much in such a short amount of time. You came to them filled with hatred and a wish for vengeance, and within one year later you were laughing and joking with Hana and Lúcio about stupid things that, to be honest, didn’t really matter. You had found happiness, even if for a fleeting moment. And more than that, you came from being a girl with no knowledge about fighting or barely any stamina to someone who managed to pull their own weight when needed. You weren’t a super soldier like him, you were something else entirely. You were both sides of the same coin, a normal person forced to become someone you had no choice over. At times he wished to ask about your previous life, about your family, but he always thought it was none of his business, and it would probably make you relive past pain.

 

Jack found himself in front of his room’s door, finally arriving after walking so much. He swiped an ID card on the lock device next to it, and the door opened and closed it self swiftly. But just as he arrived he stopped mid room, not sure what to do anymore. The man raised both his hands to his forehead, slightly pushing his hair up a bit and took a deep breath. He pressed a button on his visor and both the red visor part and the dark metal covering his mouth came off, leaving him with just the chin and ear part. Jack slowly set it on a desk filled with many papers and sat on a chair nearby.

 

Blue eyes met the ceiling and he took another deep breath, this time slower. There was too much on his head, and he ended up forgetting his own thoughts. He closed his eyes to focus. What  _ did _ he want? If he could have it his way, what would he desire? 

 

Suddenly, your face comes to his mind and Jack’s eyes jerk open. No. Come on, it wasn’t that type of want he was trying to think about. He knew damn well by now that you stirred up something within him, but it was obviously one sided and he wouldn’t act on it. He wanted to understand what came next, what he should do, what was his priority right now. Closing his eyes again he tried to focus one more time.

 

Your face again.  _ Damn _ it. This wasn’t going to work. That small little flirty like line you’ve said minutes ago kept him on edge, as much as he tried not to. You were right, you’d talk more later.

 

“Don’t give an old man hope like that…” He mumbled, putting both his hands behind his head and inclining back on his chair.

 

\------------------

 

“Sorry, but I’m still trying to make up for those days.” McCree replied to you, and your shoulders dropped a little. “That’s why I’m not comfortable discussing this.”

 

“But any info would help!” You persisted “Just something about how you operated under Reye’s command and-” McCree put his hand on your shoulder and you looked at his face, seeing a dark expression that you couldn’t understand, but that made you afraid even.

 

“Go to bed, lady. It’s late, and you are not gonna get anything from me.” His heavy hand left your shoulder and he walked to the opposite way, getting away from you.

 

Well, great. Things had gone a lot smoother with Genji, so you didn’t imagine McCree wouldn’t be willing to talk about his time on the Blackwatch. You decided to take his advice and slowly walked back to your room, trying to focus your thoughts.

 

Gabriel had said the old Overwatch was what did whatever _that_ was to him. All the recruits and agents that you knew were from the old Overwatch seemed so nice. Angela had helped you all the times you were injured, Winston and Torb were both happy to see you aboard and even worked on a set of weapons for you, Lena was one of the people to rescue you back at the Cativeiros.... In the end, it all came down to 76. Was he as reliable as you imagined all along? He did lie about his identity but he had reasons, right?

 

You entered your room and made sure to close the door, putting your back against it. You took a deep breath. Either Gabriel or 76 had done something that helped the old Overwatch fail. But which one of them was telling the truth?

 

Also, finding out your commander - who was your crush - is actually also your idol - and crush - from years ago was not an easy thing to digest. Another deep breath. At least for now you had to keep things leveled. You couldn’t show him you might have started to doubt him. 

 

\---------

 

He was in front of your room’s door. It was late, there was no one around but he didn’t risk taking off the visor. Jack put his back against your door. He had to talk to you, to actually talk to you and not just give you short cold replies like he had done back then. He took a deep breath and turned around, knocking three times.

 

It wasn’t long until you opened the door, wide eyes from seeing him. You were probably expecting Hana at a time like this, he figured. Your voice cracked slightly as you asked “Yes?”

 

“We need to talk.” Was all he said, and for a small second you had a  _ ‘no shit sherlock’ _ look on your face, but it lasted only a second as you soon tried to leave your room. Jack raised a hand in front of you. “Privately.” He pointed to your room with his head and you just stood still for a moment, staring off at nowhere and he wondered what you were thinking about but he would never know you were just trying to remember if you had anything embarrassing in your room that you didn’t want him to see.

 

He entered the room as you opened the way to him and looked around curiously. Your room was a bit messy, wild but contained just like yourself. You had a small collection of comics and videogames in the corner he couldn't help but see. 

 

Jack turned around and saw you holding your left arm and staring at him, waiting for him to go on. Your posture was defensive, he noticed, and he felt a little bad for probably scaring you so late alt night- Oh, you were on your PJ's. That's cute. Wait ,no, focus. “Sooo…” you said still staring at him. “Have a seat.” You pointed to a chair in a desk behind him and sat on your own bed as well. He did as told, sitting and crossing his arms. “What is it?”

 

“I have a proposal.” Jack started and moved his hands to his knees “Whatever is it that Gabe told you, you’ll stop thinking about it.” 

 

You waited a few moments before replying “And…?” 

 

“And you choose. Anything. Within reason.” Jack stated while your eyes glistened with the idea.

 

“I want to be allowed to call you by name. S-surname.” You said firmly. He considered for a second before going on.

 

“If there is no one around that doesn't know, that's fine.” He was already preparing to stand up when you spoke again.

 

“A-and I wanna see your face.” You stumbled a bit over your words and he took that info in. He was right, he  _ did _ stir some curiosity in you. 

 

A few moments passed before he replied. “Alright, I guess.” You almost jumped in excitement and he had to hold a chuckle in. He raised his hand to the button that detached the mask part of his visor. He hesitated. What was the last time he showed anyone his face? It was when he rejoined Overwatch, and it seemed so long ago. He pushed the button and lowered the mask to his lap.

 

You were face to face for the first time.

 

\-----------

 

You stared non stop at the man in front of you. Jack was still, for the lack of better words, handsome as hell. All the wrinkles on his face seemed to make him even better looking than before somehow, and his eyes were still that beautiful shade of blue you saw in battle. He seemed somewhat ethereal to you, like he wasn't even really there. 

 

“Satisfied?” came his voice almost startling you. His voice unaltered by the robotic wheeze of his mask, and you felt yourself melt slightly at the sound. You couldn't take your eyes off of him, looking at every change on his expression. You stared intensely at the two long scars across his face, scars you had never seen before from all your studying of the old Overwatch.

 

But you weren't satisfied.

 

“Can I touch it?” You questioned with trembling lips.

 

“What?” He asked genuinely confused and you just looked at how his lips moved when he talked.

 

“Your face.” trying to pay no mind to the deja vú scene, you waited expectantly for his answer but not thinking he would actually agree with it.

 

“...Yes.” He replied and your heart stopped. Yes? You really didn't expect that, what was he thinking? Still, you didn't want to waste the opportunity and stood up, making your way and standing in front of him while he sitted. 

Your hands trembled, your heart beat was fast, and you did your best to maintain an even breathing cycle. Raising your hands your fingers instinctively went to tracing his scars. You wondered how he got them, because they sure looked like that hurt. Your eyes left the scars and you realized he had been gazing at you the whole time. The heat coming to your cheeks was undeniable, and you stared back into his eyes just as intensely. Before you realized, one of your hands moved, allowing your thumb to brush against his lips. You were so close, and you could finally feel his scent to the max, and his breathing brushing against your skin.

 

You went closer, still eye to eye, but he took ahold of your wrists and moved your hands away. “That's enough.” He said sternly, never breaking eye contact. 

 

Your faces were still  _ so _ close. You momentarily forgot everything else: just how close your faces were was more important than anything and you did something you never thought you would do.

 

You closed the gap between them.

 

His lips were chapped, rough and cold. Or maybe yours were just too warm from your nervousness in comparison. Your kiss was childish, innocent even. Just one touch to test the waters. To see if he would mind.

He did. Jack backed up, increasing the distance between you two and more importantly, denying your kiss. You kept staring into his eyes the whole time and it was just like staring into his visor, his expression was stoic and never changed. He looked down, finally breaking eye contact and shook his head slowly. Your heart felt like breaking but you stood still. He let go of your wrists but didn't face you.

 

You gave a few steps backwards, increasing even more the distance between you two, and watched as he ran a hand through his gray hair.  You wanted to apologize but the words didn't came out. He shook his head again. “I can't.” was all he said. Jack stood up and walked to your door, and left without a word.

 

Oh had you fucked up. ...But damn if you didn’t want to do it again.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long chapter 8'D I couldn't find a nicer place to finish it off.  
> Also daaaaamn that cliffhanger.
> 
> \- v - d


	10. Gunfire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> " You know, he’s been asking the whole day for you.”  
> "Oh?"  
> “Yeah, and then he goes to the opposite direction.”  
> "Oh."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello im still alive 8'D  
> Sorry for the long silence, work has taken over my life.
> 
> also i wish this chapter was longer aaaa sorry i did my best

The next morning was hell.

You kept repeating the scene over and over inside your head trying to see if you had gotten wrong signals, if whatever had happened would stain your friendship forever, if you were simply being one stubborn annoying kid to him.

It had been half an hour since you texted both Hana and Lúcio, asking them advice about what happened and none of them seemed to have answered yet.

 

You were wearing a t shirt thrown over a sports bra and a pair of sweatpants that you actually used as sleepwear. You never looked so sloppy, but that was the price to be paid after a major fuck up. You tied your bangs back, throwing water over your face at the sink. It was like whatever happened last night was simply part of a weird ass dream you woke up from. It was too real, though. You could still feel his lips against yours if you tried hard enough, and damn if you didn’t.

 

Maybe you did fuck up. Maybe you did lose your crush to awkwardness and lost probably the only person who really took faith in you when you arrived. Great. Thinking about it wasn’t making you feel any better, yet you couldn’t take your mind off of the topic.

 

Suddenly your phone vibrated in your pocket and you rushed to see the screen. After unlocking the now even more awkward lockscreen with 76’s- uh Jack’s picture on it, you saw your own message and the reply Lúcio had sent.

 

‘I fucked up and kissed my crush’

 

‘How is that fcking up tho? ASHAUSUHA’

 

First off, you smiled at his horribly brazilian typed laughter. Then you worked on replying back.

 

‘He backed away and said ‘i cant’ and now im desperate’

 

You sat on your bed, waiting for him to reply, thinking back at the scene a thousand times.

Finally your phone vibrated and you took a hopeful peek at the screen.

 

‘I cant doesnt mean i dont want to’

 

You gave a deep breath. Jesus he was right, you hadn’t thought of that.

‘He looked away when he said that’

 

Was the reply you sent, and Lúcio quickly replied back (you had to thank him for being so responsive so early in the morning). He sent a big amount of replies in different messages and you wondered why he didn't just save everything for the same one.

 

‘More the reason to think he wanted. I mean he was hiding from you, he didnt want ya to see his face while he said it’

 

Oh my god he was right. Your hands trembled with the realization. You had replayed the scene a thousand times in your head but that never came to you. 

 

‘You may be right’

 

You could imagine him laughing at you in this moment. Damn it if only you thought things out a little before talking to him...but still, you couldn’t have done it alone. Your mind was too messed up at the moment. Your phone vibrated one last time.

 

‘Just talk things out cmon im sure he is an adult enough for it’

 

Oh Lúcio you had no idea. You blushed a bit before thanking him through messages and stood up. He was right, you had a lot to talk about with Jack and you had to do it now.

You needed to talk to him.

 

 

\------------------------

 

The next morning was hell.

Jack couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened. He barely got any sleep because of it and his mind kept wandering to the moment. How you approached him, how he let his guard down near you, your face close to his, the soft touching of your lips and the bruise he saw in your face when you got too close.

A bruise that wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t for him. 

 

He was being stupid. There was no way he could be near you like that. Even thinking about how hopeful he got when you hit on him was making him cringe at himself right now. Stupid, just plain stupid. He was your tutor, your trainer and above all your friend. He had just fucked up letting you near him like that, showing his face to you.

 

Maybe you were simply confusing admiration and closeness to...whatever you thought you felt for him. Maybe you just needed intimacy and he was the closest person you had. That had to be it, you couldn’t be attracted by an old man like him, right? And it would be wrong of him to take advantage of that.

Jack sat on his bed, his hands holding his head as he thought things over. He needed the time for it. Maybe he had to train alone, to focus his mind on something else. 

 

He just wished he could stop thinking about it. Stop remembering how your lips felt against his, just stop damn it. He needed to stay as far away as possible from you for that to happen.

He couldn’t see you today.

 

\----------------------

 

...But where the fuck was he?

It wasn’t the first time Jack had you looking all over the place for him, and somehow you felt like it wouldn’t be the last. You spent the whole day coming and going after him, and you always seemed to ‘just miss’ him. You even went knocking on his room’s door but he wasn’t inside. You were getting tired already.

 

Ok, you got the message. He was avoiding you. 

But how old was he again? You needed to talk things over. You needed to settle this, for god’s sake. Act like real adults.

 

“I think he was heading to the training bots.” Hana said, raising one eyebrow after you asked for 76. “What’s so important?”

 

“We just need to talk.” You said, avoiding eye contact with her by instinct. Damn, you hope she didn’t caugh on that.

 

“Well, okay. You know, he’s been asking the whole day for you.” Hana announced and you trembled a bit.

 

So he was there somewhere. Your heart sped up, you could feel your backs sweating. He had been asking around for you? Was he just as confused about the whole ordeal as you were? “Oh?”

 

“Yeah, and then he goes to the opposite direction.” Nope, he was just doing his best to avoid you. Great. 

 

“Oh.” Heart rate back to normal. Nothing to see here. “Well, I’m gonna go after him.” You said already turning your back to your friend, who replied with a simple ‘Alright’.

 

\------------------

 

The shots fired echoed through the room filled with training bots going around the room as aim practice targets.

 

Every wall was cold metal and you felt a little sorry you didn’t bring a coat. No way you could start trembling from cold while lecturing your commander friend.

...Was he even a friend at the current conditions? Also, what made you think you were gonna be successful at lecturing him? Figures, it was just you over thinking and planning ahead without knowing his reaction first.

 

You turned a corner and spotted Jack on his usual mission clothing (76 leatherman jacket and all) firing relentlessly on a group of bots around him and missing a few shots. He seemed on edge, and for a small second there you almost turned back and walked to your room. But you had things to settle.

 

Walking closer to him, you raised your voice to be heard over the gunfire “Hey.” He turned to your direction still with the gun in hands pointed to you and you jumped a little in surprise “Woah there…”

 

“It’s you.” Was the cold answer coming from under his mask and you felt yourself frown slightly at it while he let the gun rest by his side. 

 

“Yea it’s me.” You heard him sigh and your frown was bigger now. “Thought you could avoid me forever?”

 

“That was the plan.” Jack answered raising his gun to rest on his shoulder and walked away from you. You followed behind as quick as possible, cursing your small legs next to his long ones, because while he gave one step you gave two.

 

“Well, not gonna work.” You watched as he put his rifle down on a table and then both of his hands on it, supporting his weight while looking down. He sighed again, jesus christ stop doing that. “...Look.” You started and waited for him to turn his face to your way but it never happened so you went on “I’m sorry for what I did, but I don’t think that’s any reason for us to just never talk anymore.”

 

“You don’t understand.” Was his reply, while he didn’t move a muscle. You crossed your arms angrily and went on yet again.

 

“This is not something that should interfere with our missions and all! We are both grown up, we can talk things out!” You exasperated said while moving your hands around to prove your point. 

 

One of Jack’s hands moved to his mask and pressed a button, taking it off like he did before, and he left it on the table beside his rifle. He turned to you, finally, and you watched carefully his stern expression. “Why are you wasting time on an old dog like me?”

 

“Because I like you!” Was your immediate reply, as if it was obvious. “Because I care and I don’t want things to be so awkward between us! I already said I’m sorry, but that’s not something that should make us never talk again! _ I’m sorry!  _ I  _ really _ am!” You felt like a little kid apologizing so much, he was putting you on defense mode even though you walked in there so sure of yourself minutes ago.

 

“You  _ don’t _ understand.” He spat back, his stern expression slowly turning into an angry one and you wished for a moment that he had never taken the mask off so you wouldn’t see it. The small creases on his forehead were showing from his frown, his eyes were fixated on you and you only, and you felt small under his gaze.

“Then  _ make _ me!” were the words who broke him. 

 

Jack quickly took a hold of your arm, pulling you right to his direction while his other hand went to hold the side of your face. He reached down and made your lips meet, kissing you hard while still holding you. His kiss was nothing like yours last night: he was desperate, strong and decided. Somehow, somewhere in the middle of it your mouths opened, tongues meeting in desperation, and his grip went to your thighs, pulling you up and sitting you on the table his rifle rest, never breaking the kiss while at it. You felt your heart speeding up as you raised your hands to his face, holding it with care while he kept intensely kissing you. His very scent was taking over you now and you felt like you couldn’t stop.

 

You wrapped your legs around him, pulling him even closer and he obliged, still towering you even though you were on a table now. Your kiss deepened, his hand ran through your thigh and you let out a moan by instinct. That seemed to break him back to focus as he broke the kiss, his forehead touching yours while taking shallow breaths.

 

“...I can’t.” Oh my god, not again. You watched as a pained expression took over his features. So that was it. He was holding himself back?

 

“...You could.” Was your warm reply, but you didn’t try to lock your lips again. You simply waited for his reaction.

 

Should have just kissed him again, because he took distance from you, unwrapping your legs from around him and turned to the other direction, running a hand through his white hair.

You sighed and jumped off the table, walking to his direction. That was the issue, then? He didn’t want to stop, and that was  _ somehow _ a problem, but why wasn’t really clear to you.  “Don’t waste your time on me.” 

 

“After  _ that _ ?” You huffed in annoyance. “It’s like you are giving me the perfect target and then saying ‘don’t shoot’.”

 

He laughed lightly at your comparison, turning back to you. His face was filled with regret, and you couldn’t understand why. “This can’t happen.” Was all he said, before taking his mask and putting it on again.

 

“Well, I’m not going to give up on it.” Was your reply, filled with confidence after the passionate kiss. You felt renewed, ready to take on the world and if that man wasn’t in on whatever you had done, you would make him be.

 

He chuckled lightly once more, almost as if making fun of you. “Good luck.” He replied, taking his rifle and walking away.

 

You wondered if there was a little part of him that simply enjoyed keeping you hanging like that.


	11. Riot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “We meet again, Zorrita.  
> Where is your little commander, girly?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am still alive! Yay!  
> Sorry for the long silence, it's been getting harder to get some ideas lately. Anyways, I'm really having a hard time writing in english as you can tell, so I'm accepting beta readers!  
> If you are interested dm on twitter, I'm @waifu76  
> I'm also taking ideas and prompts and stuff, since as I said, it's been hard create some plot. I can't promise I'll use all of them, but I would love to add some in!

“Are you taking _another_ piece?” the gruff voice sounded from under the visor, and you turned to it’s owner looking offended after repeating your lunch with another piece of pie.

 

“ _Excuse me_.” You sat down beside him, laying your plate on the table. “I don't think my food intake is any of your concern.” You took a bite from your food, eating it before going on. “Besides, I’ve trained like, double hard today.”

 

A small silence fell between you two, but Jack briefly cut it going on “You’ve trained without me?”

 

You could swear that was some small hint of sadness on his words. “I’ve been training, yea. I mean, you’re not always free, so…” You kept eating trying not to make any eye contact.

 

He crossed his arms and nodded slowly. After a long silence his voice sounded again. “A pie won’t give you the nutrients you need. I can make a mean steak.”

 

You turned to him, finally fully facing him, fork still raised. Was he offering to cook for you? Aww that’s actually really sweet. “I’d love to see that one day.”

 

Suddenly an alarm sounded and you dropped your fork, looking around while agents stood up and ran to a big screen on the wall. Wasting no time you did the same, softly pushing away people in front of you.

 

Cameras recordings showed you the streets of somewhere you could not recognize, and chaos was breaking out. People breaking windows, fighting against each other, Omnics being chased away… suddenly you see someone holding a sign with only one word written on it:

 

‘Undertake’.

 

Your heart raced. The same organization (or rather lack of) that did all those tests on you. There was no rule there, no founder, no leader. Just utter chaos. You wanted to go there and put everything in order, you wanted those people _gone_.

 

“They say that they are the exact opposite of Overwatch.” You heard two agents talking beside you. “Their purpose is just… making chaos instead of peacekeeping.”

 

Your blood boiled. Just remembering everything from back then made you tremble with anger. Suddenly a gloved hand was on your shoulder and you heard Jack talking behind you.

 

“They’ll deal with it.” He seemed tense, as if he wasn’t really sure how to help you.

 

“ _I_ want to deal with it.” You spat back, turning your body to his direction. His reaction was a firm shake of his head. You sighed deeply in anger, pushing past him to get out of there. You could still feel his eyes on your back as you left.

 

\---------------

 

You had to admit, Overwatch wasn’t that careful. It was easy to get on the airship leaving towards the Undertake movement, you barely broke a sweat. You weren’t supposed to be there though, and you had to be sneaky not to get caught.

 

They had called in quite a few agents to dissolve the movement, but you especifically wasn’t one of them. You could almost hear Jack’s speech over how unprofessional and immature you were being right now, hunched next to a large metal box, hiding like a little mouse. But you needed to get to that place, you needed to look those people straight in the eyes and you probably needed to punch a few of them as well, just to get the anger out.

 

You couldn’t understand how someone would be okay with a movement to only cause chaos. What did those people had in mind? What were they expecting to accomplish? Maybe they thought it was a nice way to turn against the government. It had to be that.

 

Just as you waited for the airship to land, you heard a set of steps coming from behind you. They were calm and collected and for a fraction of second you believed their owner hadn’t seen you. That is, of course, until you heard a familiar voice.

 

“Well, well…” You turned your face to the person’s direction, being coldly greeted by Shrike’s full faced mask, blue lights glowing dimly in your way. “What are _you_ doing here?”

 

Your eyebrows knitted together, as you tried to think of something to say. “I need to go out there.” was your answer.

 

Shrike’s head shook, and she motioned for you to stand up, which you did. “You are not going anywhere. It’s my responsibility now to not let you go any further.”

 

You grimaced, annoyed with how Shrike was acting towards you. For some reason you believed she was a little more easy going than Jack. You truly thought she would let you off the hook. Looking to your side, you spotted your chainsaw hidden behind another metal crate and your brain started thinking about it. Maybe if you played your cards right you could still join the team against that Undertake gathering.

“Alright.” You said, and you could notice that Shrike was taken back by it. “But only if you tell me what you found out about this gathering so far.”

 

Shrike seemed to ponder about the deal, but somehow she decided it was a fair trade. “We are currently trying to discover how this riot came to be. Whatever started it was strong enough to move quite an amount of citizens. They say Undertake has no leader but we still have doubts about it.” She crossed her arms before her chest. “It just seems strange that such an amount of people decide to riot at the same time. And our theory might be right, because some of Talon’s members were spotted around here.”

 

Oh, that was interesting. “So you believe Talon might be behind the Undertake movement?”

 

“It is just a theory.” She assured. “So we don’t know for sure. Alright little lady, now sit down and wait until the mission is over.” The masked woman pointed to a few seats and walked away, going for the ship’s exit.

 

You did as you were told and sat down, waiting for the ship to arrive at the riot place.

 

\---------------

 

Agents came were running towards the exit as an alarm sounded. You could tell for sure you had arrived. You saw some tanks taking in the front lines (hey, was that Reinhardt?), shooters going for the middle and support at the back. Shrike was there, with a biotic rifle in hands. Everyone left the ship as the crowd came closer. Tanks put their shields up, as civilians threw rocks and bottles at them. You realized the shooters were equipped not for killing but for immobilizing instead.

 

You wouldn’t be much help with your gun in there. You couldn’t kill them, as much as you’d like to. Overwatch would probably ditch you if you ever did something like that. You grabbed your chainsaw and creeped furtively out of the ship, avoiding all the other agents. You went around the mass of people, hiding from the crowd. Thankfully no one was really interested in you with that whole chaos, because sneaking around with a chainsaw in hand isn’t the best choice.

 

Further away from that whole crowd the streets were completely empty. Trashed, but empty. You could almost hear your own footsteps if it weren’t for the distant yelling. You looked up at the buildings, searching for a sniper or any of Talon’s members like Shrike had told you. Maybe she was mistaken. Maybe there was no Talon there after all.

 

You looked around, realizing you still didn’t know where was that place located at. Maybe it was the fact that you had been locked up for so long, but your knowledge of geography sucked. To be honest, you didn’t even know where north was located at. It had something to do with where the sun rises, right? Where was the sun again?...

 

While you searched for the sun in the gray sky, you felt a sudden cold down your spine. It was like someone had put a cold hand to your shoulder, but nothing was there. You could feel a presence behind you, but you didn’t dare to look back. Your eyes scanned the scene ahead and spotted a car close by. Paying attention to the car’s rear view mirror you saw a dark figure standing right behind you.

 

You recognized him as the one who had used you as bait to lure Jack. Reaper. No, Gabriel.

 

He was standing right behind you, and you saw his arm being raised, pointing a gun at the back of your head. Your grip on your weapon tightened instinctively, ready to turn around with it. A few moments passed, and he didn’t move at all. You could feel a drop of sweat on your right temple, your hands almost shaking with anticipation. Suddenly, his arm dropped down, not pointing the gun at you anymore. Did he notice you saw him?

 

“We meet again, _Zorrita._ ” You slowly turned around, cautiously waiting for any sudden movement. You caught yourself staring right into his mask’s eyes. “Where is your little commander, girly?”

 

You swallowed hard, taking in his image for the first time in months. “Guess it’s just me and you today, sorry.” You slightly raised your weapon in anticipation, as a defense instinct.

 

Gabriel tilted his head before chuckling darkly. “I didn’t think he would let his pet run away like that.” He raised his gun again, and you raised yours as a reflex. “What is a little fox like you doing here, anyway?”

 

“I came to see if I can find out more about Undertake.” You answered honestly, but with your gun still in hands.

 

“...That makes us two, then.” Your eyes widened at the phrase. So Talon wasn’t behind Undertake? Wait, what if he was lying? There was no reason for him to be honest with you, maybe you were just being silly believing in him. “Tell me… Did you think about the things I’ve told you?”

 

Oh, that’s right. Feels like it was an eternity ago, but Gabriel had told you how Overwatch should be disassembled and how it destroyed who he was. But you didn’t think about it, because Jack made you not do it with a promise. It was the day you kissed him for the first time.

 

Somehow, you felt a bad feeling in the gut of your stomach. It was strange, as if you felt you betrayed Gabriel somehow…? But you did nothing wrong, didn’t you? You did right not thinking about what the enemy had said about Overwatch. But somehow, for some reason, you had compassion for Gabriel and what had become of him. The least you could have done was thinking about what he told you, but you didn’t.

 

“I’ll take your silence as a no.” He remarked, and you realized you had gone silent for a while there. Suddenly, it was faint, but you could hear the shouting in the distance getting closer. Were the civilians coming your way? Gabriel must have heard it too, because he turned his head sideways, closer to the direction of the sound coming from behind him. He stayed silent for a few minutes, before there was a group of people rioting in the distance coming towards you two. “This should be fun.”

 

\------------

 

It was past noon and Jack hadn’t seen you since the alarms went off.

Maybe he was too harsh on you, he could have talked to someone about you tagging along with the other agents. But he honestly didn’t believe you were ready for it. He didn’t know how you would react to it. What if you weren’t able to control your anger? What if you lashed out at the civilians? Undertake was like a disease, a virus spreading around people’s minds turning groups of simple people into riots. And then there were the more radical people as well.

 

No, he couldn’t risk you going. He _was_ like a tutor to you all this time, and he couldn’t let you do something so dangerous to you and others. Still, he couldn’t let you deal with your anger yourself. He had to be there for you, as much as things had become slightly awkward between you two when you were alone together now. After that day when he wasn’t able to control himself, you’ve been trying to get to him more times. Jack could barely believe someone like you were interested in some old dog like him. And all this tension and feelings and stuff- that was for teenagers, not for him. He was far too old for this.

 

The soldier walked down some corridors leading to your room, still trying to think about what he would say to you. He needed to make you understand his side, but still be there for you because you needed him. And he actually felt a small surge of pride thinking that you _needed_ him. Alright, maybe you didn’t really. _‘Let an old man dream…’_

 

Jack stopped in front of your door. He raised his hand to knock, but hesitated. Was he going too far? Maybe he wasn’t respecting your privacy. No, he was just going to offer to help, he shouldn’t feel guilty for that.

Gloved hands met the metal, knocking at the door to your room. “Hey, It’s me. Open up.”

 

...Silence. He knocked again. Nothing. “Kiddo?” Strange, he was sure you were in your room. Your door wasn’t locked, so moving his hand Jack opened it. Your room was slightly messy. The bed wasn’t made, there were some clothes spread around ( _was that underwear? N-no time to think about that…_ ) but you were nowhere to be found. Your bathroom door was open so he took a quick peek just to see you where not there as well.

 

Jack turned around leaving your room. Where else could you be? It wasn’t long until he saw Hana passing by and called out for her.

 

“Have you seen Feneco?” His voice was sounding worried and raspy as always. Part of him was begging for Hana to say ‘yea she’s in my room’. He knew that was the best conclusion and that all others he could find would mean you got into deep trouble.

 

“No, I haven’t seen her all day.” The girl raised an eyebrow.

 

Shit.

 

\-----------

 

Undertake gatherings weren’t just filled with people holding signs, throwing rocks and yelling. There were groups of outlaws that took advantage of the chaos just to kill and steal. You knew that, and you knew even in those situations Overwatch agents weren’t supposed to kill anyone.

You knew all those things very well, and honestly you thought it was weird how you saw none of those outlaws in the crowd before.

 

Obviously, they had been somewhere else, because now they were fighting you. And your most improbable partner, Reaper. Who would have thought you would end up in a situation like this today? Fighting alongside a Talon leader, both doing whatever they could to survive. In the middle of a mass of people, you wished you didn’t even had to worry about not killing any of them. You did your best to hit them with the handle part of your weapon, the only non fatal way of fighting you found. Of course, punching and kicking when necessary. You were so glad that Jack had trained you well, because you could now totally pull your own weight in a physical battle.

 

Gabriel though, had no worry over killing these people. He simply shot them in the chest or head whenever they got too near. You couldn’t pay much attention to what he was doing, since, you know, you were to worried about saving your own skin. But you could hear him grunting in annoyance because of the situation.

 

Someone aimed a punch at your face and you did your best to hold their fist and redirect it to somewhere else. You punched them back, and they fell down to the ground. Before you could react, a man was already aiming a gun at your face. One more second and you’d be dead, but that second never came. You watched as a bullet went through his head and he fell. Turning back to where the shot came from you found Reaper, his gun raised having just shot the guy. You blinked twice but had no time to thank him as more people approached.

 

Some ran away as soon as they saw Gabriel shooting, which you kinda became thankful of. Somehow the fact that he was killing those people wasn’t bothering you, and _that_ bothered you. Why were you okay with it? It’s not as bad as it seemed, right? Those _were_ bad people after all.

 

In the middle of the fight you heard a machine pistol shooting off. It was close by, but you couldn’t pay attention to where it was coming from. You kicked someone in the balls. The machine gun sound was closer now. You punched someone in the face as Gabriel shot some people around you.

 

“Gabe!” A female voice called out. You couldn’t see where it was coming from, but it was just as close as the gun and realized it was it’s owner. “Gabe!!!” Turning around you saw Gabriel still shooting people off of him and behind him there was a woman you’d never saw before. You didn’t have time to stare at her, but you realized she had a tan skin and a side cutted hair with purple ends. She seemed inpatient and sighed. “Mister Reaper!”

 

“What?” He finally answered, curtly, but answered. “Can’t you see I’m in the middle of something here, Sombra?”

 

The woman, which now you knew as Sombra, shot some people getting close to Gabriel while speaking. “We need to go, we got all we needed.” She seemed to be trained at this, she knew exactly how to use her gun.

 

“Finally…” He sighed back, turning to you. “Tell the boy scout I sent my regards.” And with that he dissipated into black smoke. Your gaze quickly turned to the Sombra woman, who looked at you from head to toe and became invisible right there and then, leaving only you and the rest of the outlaws alone. Great.

 

Thankfully there weren’t much people left. And thankfully, someone hit a dart in one of them, making the fall cold to the ground. You were worried at first that they might have killed them, but looking closely you realized they were still breathing. Were they...sleeping? What the hell?

One by one your enemies fell to the ground with sleeping darts, along with the bodies Reaper left behind. You searched around, trying to see were the darts were coming from and Shrike surprised you from above a building next to you.

 

She shook her head, before calling out. “Oh, you are into some serious trouble, little girl.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Once again, sorry for all the awkward writing mistakes and typos 8'D I'm really writing this as a stress reliver so sometimes I forget to pay close atention to those.
> 
> Eyyy psst you really should read Misconduct by Antiloquist and FiveTail. It's great. Made me want to write myself ;3; ~  
> http://archiveofourown.org/works/8572498


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